Misfits have a new record out: good news… Danzig is not in the band any more: old news… the new album is mediocre: expected news…
It’s been almost eight years since the band’s last release (“Project 1950”), and another twelve since the last time they put out original material (“Famous Monsters”), and Jerry Only decided to make “The Devil’s Rain”. The lineup is completed with ex-Black Flag, DC3, Redd Cross, guitarist Dez Cadena, who has been in the band since 2001, and Murphy’s Law drummer, Eric “Chupacabra” Arce, who came into the fold for the first time in 2000, and recently replaced Marky Ramone.
Their last original albums by the Misfits were, in my opinion, very good showing Only’s intentions to move forward with a heavy metal-ized kind of punk based on double crunching guitars, and to a lesser extend on Misfits legacy. Of course, the hardcore fans never considered the Danzig-less Misfits a good idea, but their case is a typical one where the original band that lasted for a few years cannot be surpassed by whatever they may be up to on the decades to follow. So, the six years (1977-1983) with Danzig will always define what the Misfits were all about, and not what Only’s Misfits did from then on, and will ever do…
“The Devil’s Rain” cannot stand near the Danzig-era, not even the ‘90s albums. There’s a couple of coo songs here, but nothing more than that. Overall the album sounds weary, uninspired, and indifferent. The song titles are very impressive bringing in mind ‘50s horror films (“Land Of The Dead” – the best song , “The Mummy’s Hands”, “Ghost Of Frankenstein”), but unfortunately fail to live up the expectations.
Still, if you manage to overcome Danzig’s absence from the band he co-founded with Jerry Only, you should check out the two albums with Graves on vocals, as well as “Project 1950”. Finally, just for the record we should point out that under the Misfits “Family Tree” you will even find Jeff Scot Soto, who was the lead singer in Only’s post-Misfits project Khryst The Conqueror, but I am not sure if he’d like to be remembered for that…
