Danzig – Black Laden Crown (2017) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Danzig – Black Laden Crown (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:54 minutes | 950 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Front cover | © AFM Records

“Black Laden Crown” is the eleventh studio album, and the tenth of all-new original material, by the American band Danzig. One might’ve thought that on the heels of last year’s unexpected Misfits reunion at Riot Fest, Glenn Danzig would perhaps be inclined to revisit the horror-punk past on his next album of original material from his namesake outfit. One would be wrong. On “Black Laden Crown”, he sinks deeper into the blues for the darkest, dirge-filled Danzig work in years.

The first collection of new original music from the punk-metal legend since 2010’s Deth Red Sabaoth, Black Laden Crown follows a surprisingly busy three-year stretch that saw Glenn Danzig issue a covers album (2015’s Skeletons), reunite with Jerry Only and Doyle for a pair of Misfits reunion shows, and appear on an episode of the sketch comedy TV series Portlandia. Black Laden Crown is the 11th studio long-player from Danzig (the band), and it marks a return to the brooding, largely midtempo, blues-based biker horror jams of yore, with a smattering of doomy, Samhain-era malevolence tossed in for good measure — the latter Danzig iteration looms large on the sludgy, nearly six-minute title track. Recorded with multiple drummers over a four-year span, and produced with the opposite of finesse by Danzig himself, the nine-track set never really gels, but like Deth Red Sabaoth, its utter contempt for production values occasionally works in its favor, effectively capturing the pugilistic, comic book/horror punk aesthetic of the Misfits — tapping British comic book artist Simon Bisley for the garish cover art was a nice touch. Lead single “Devil on Hwy 9” is downright abysmal, a demo-level, rudimentary blast of B-movie chum that yields not a single fin, and it misrepresents the album as a whole. Black Laden Crown is at its best when the band keeps it slow and low, as they do with great success on workmanlike candelabra-burners like “Last Ride,” “Skulls & Daisies,” and “Pull the Sun” and it’s in those solemn moments of churning, Jim Morrison-esque torment and woe that Glenn Danzig sounds the most sinister and at ease. ~ James Christopher Monger

Tracklist:
01 – Black Laden Crown
02 – Eyes Ripping Fire
03 – Devil on Hwy 9
04 – Last Ride
05 – The Witching Hour
06 – But a Nightmare
07 – Skulls & Daisies
08 – Blackness Falls
09 – Pull the Sun

Download:

mqs.link_DanzigBlackLadenCrwn2017Qbuz2496.rar