Review by Daniel for Danzig - Danzig III: How the Gods Kill (1992)

While I was certainly well aware of former Misfits & Samhain front man Glenn Danzig's early solo works, I never felt the need to give them any dedicated attention until more recent times when I investigated his first two records in 1988's self-titled & 1990's "Danzig II - Lucifuge". I found both of them to be pretty decent & quite enjoyable hard rock albums too although I wouldn't consider either to be essential & I'd suggest that neither were metal enough to qualify as genuine metal releases either. 1992's "Danzig III: How the Gods Kill" has always been talked about as the final piece in Danzig's trio of great records though so I've always felt that I owed it to myself to give it some consideration too, if only in the interest of satisfying the obsessive completist in me. The fact that it's often referred to as being Danzig's most metal record to the time was certainly a drawcard for it given my personal taste profile too so I didn't hesitate in selecting it as this month's The Guardians feature release.

My earliest observation was that "Danzig III: How the Gods Kill" is most certainly a Danzig record. It's got that lovely, warm & organic production job with a bluesy feel & an atmosphere that verges on the gothic quite often, perhaps more so than either of Glenn's previous records. But this is also a heavier & more metallic record than "Danzig" & "Danzig II: Lucifuge" were. In fact, it's easily metal enough to qualify for heavy metal status on this occasion with the metal being even more prominent than the hard rock, although the combination of the two is very important in the holistic outcome that "Danzig III: How the Gods Kill" achieves. While I've struggled with Glenn's vocal style at times in the past, it seems much better suited to this sound & I never found myself struggling at all. I'd actually go so far as to say that I really enjoyed his contribution here, particularly during the deeper & more atmospheric moments. You see, despite being a noticeably heavier record than Danzig's first two albums, this is also a deeper & more gothic sounding release. It's like everything that was hinted at on Danzig's earlier records has been amplified which has resulted in a release with a stronger purpose & a well-defined personality.

The tracklisting is generally very solid & consistent with almost all of the ten tracks being impressive in their scope & execution. The clear exception is the disappointing art rock piece "Sistinas" which draws upon ethereal wave/dream pop ideas & presents them in a way that seems much too poppy for Danzig but the rest of this material shows a clear level of class that can only be developed from many years of live performance & recording experience. Rick Rubin has done a splendid job as executive producing the album too as the material has been granted every opportunity to impress the listener. I particularly enjoy the guitar tones which have had the distortion backed off a bit in the interest of dynamics. The only thing that prevents "Danzig III: How the Gods Kill" from getting to the extreme upper echilons of my esteem is that there's not more genuine classics included. The brilliant "Heart of the Devil" is the only inclusion that I'd suggest will go down as a long-term favourite of mine with it's slow buildup to a magnificent crescendo while the rest of the album is simply of a rock-solid quality. Some of that is due to the limitations in Danzig's vocal style of course but I'd also suggest that there are very few heavy metal albums that can achieve that level of affection from me anyway.

If I had to describe "Danzig III: How the Gods Kill" to an uninitiated observer I'd probably say that you should imagine a combination of Zakk Wylde-era Ozzy Osbourne, the gothic-tinged hard rock of The Cult & the bluesy doom atmospherics of some of Pentagram's (well... Macabre's if we're being pedantic) early 1970's hard rock singles like "Be Forewarned". It's an intriguing & predominantly rewarding record that has taken Danzig to the next level with me after his first two albums failed to achieve essential listening status. I can't see any reason to continue to explore Glenn's later solo records at this point given that none of them are as highly regarded as his first three but I will most certainly be returning to "Danzig III: How the Gods Kill" from time to time as my new go-to Danzig record.