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"How the Gods Kill" is the darkest work from the early Danzig era.
The sounds return to being rough, black as pitch, at times fading into the purple and bluish hues of a tormented, godless soul. Because at the same time, this 1992 release featuring Giger's haunting artwork on the cover is also the most spiritual, mystical, and arcane work of the former Misfits frontman.
"I ask all who have gathered here to join me in the feast.
May we always be strong in body, spirit, and mind.
And all those who would try to harm us
let them be cast aside."
So begins the opener "Godless", a manifesto of a Danzig increasingly alone and against everyone. An act of spiritual independence and artistic integrity that translates, on this occasion, into a hardening of the sound. Which makes "How the Gods Kill" also the most violent episode of Danzig, at least as far as his hard rock incarnation is concerned (a different matter for the works from "Blackacidevil" onwards, which move along the tracks of a decidedly heavier and more claustrophobic industrial-metal).
The blues moods that had contaminated the previous works are thus left in the attic or mercilessly drowned in the electricity and irascibility of the guitars. Even the ghost of the Zeppelin seems to somehow disperse, giving way to the savagery inherited from the Black Sabbath masters, always a fundamental influence, and here more present than ever.
For the rest, there aren't many significant changes in the Danzig camp, and "How the Gods Kill" is the typical album one might expect from the artist. And perhaps this is precisely the fatal issue of the third act of the saga: the fact that it reiterates an already widely tested formula, which in some respects is exhausted and worn out by overuse.
A compositional fatigue which on one hand can be justifiable as the physiological decline in inspiration of an artist reaching another chapter in a varied (and at times dazzling) career, on the other hand, exposes the weakness of a proposal made of recycling and nostalgic references.
It is logical, in fact, that Danzig's rock, which is not fresh, ingenious, or innovative at all, can endure as long as inspiration prevails: where this diminishes, what emerges can only be a limp and banal rock devoid of soul.
Drums, a bass, a guitar, and an idiot screaming on top of it.
Yet it started well because the already mentioned "Godless" is a truly engaging piece, decidedly more sophisticated than the average: after about a minute of guitars and overwhelming rhythms, the track unexpectedly collapses into ultra-doom sections, where the singer has the opportunity to properly wrench us by launching into a daring invocation that sounds like Jim Morrison undergoing an enema.
But it's only the beginning, because in the remaining portion the piece comes alive and turns into a cannonade in typical Danzig style, before once again fading into the dark ending that restores the gloominess of the beginning.
Danzig is there: indelible, true to himself, agitated, obtuse, mad, furious, visionary, convinced he's doing well. The others too, following him with a cohesion now fully achieved. The compositions, alas, are less brilliant than usual, and mostly penalized by an annoying deja-vu feeling that hovers over the entire album. "Anything" and "Bodies" indeed retrace the artist's typical clichés with less conviction than in the past. The first is the usual semi-ballad opened by an arpeggio and destined to explode halfway through, only to overwhelm in the end. The second, however, is a thunderous rock 'n' roll that demonstrates the solidification of the band's rhythm section: Eerie Von drives the track with a bass line probably stolen from John Paul Jones, and therefore irresistible, while John Biscuits pounds wonderfully, helped by a very seventies drum sound.
Danzig, for his part, screams like a damned, shouts like an obsessed man, and his vulgar screams animate a piece that is energetic, but overall predictable. Excellent, however, is the tandem of compositions that follows. The title track is an atmospheric piece, which between acoustic suggestions and guitar assaults, gives us the Danzig we like the most: the drunken titan without peace or abode, exile against God, capable of shifting in the blink of an eye from velvet to sandpaper. That's how Gods (kill themselves)!
A special commendation, furthermore, for the strong "Dirty Black Summer", the lead single and one of the most beautiful Danzig-penned tracks of all time: his dirty and black summer is painted with the dark colors of a granite heavy-rock, torn by the wind of the night and the roar of a stormy sea. A track in which the good John Christ has the opportunity to showcase not only one of the most fitting riffs of his career but also a fine solo, a rare commodity in these parts.
The remaining tracks, unfortunately, do not settle at these levels.
"Left Hand Black" is narrowly saved, but only because it boasts a rousing rhythm and a bone-crushing riff: a somewhat opportunistic gallop that only reiterates the reasons why we like rock so much and why this genre will probably never bore us. However, "Heart of the Devil" bores, a nauseating brick that tries to recover, by electrifying it, the band's blues soul, but without the enthusiasm that had occurred in the past.
Partially raising the mood, we find "Sistinas", a fascinating intimate interval, where Danzig, accompanied by solemn arpeggios and icy keyboards, once again gives in to his most romantic side, transforming into his great idol Elvis Presley for the umpteenth time. A wandering Elvis among the rubble and ruins and the sadness of a hopeless love, of an eternal and irremediable solitude ("the sun don't shine, the wind don't blow, when you go hide without your love, I'm lonely deeply inside").
Negligible, instead, are the two closing tracks: the bland "Do You Wear the Mark", saved at the last minute by a providential acceleration in the finale, and "When the Dying Calls", a typical Danzig-style metal-blues, but totally devoid of bite.
In short, it's understood that we are facing an album for fans only. For others, the argument that Danzig is the usual jerk holds true. But even for the most fervent admirers, who will still find plenty to satisfy their cravings, it is bitter to note how in this "How the Gods Kill" there is a lack of the verve, feeling, and pathos that illuminated the previous two tomes.
That a certain phase was coming to an end, after all, seems to have been understood by Danzig himself, who will already decide in the subsequent "4" to refresh the sound, well aware that rock is not made by the volume of guitars, but by heart and guts.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Godless (06:51)
Godless feeling in me..
Night after night..
Godless feeling in me..
Bourn of their lives..
You gave me all of this and more, yeah,
that's for sure..
I can't believe in all your pain
under the draining of a
christian deities blood..
You tell your chidren they're insane...
I couldn't love it anymore
had to listen to my heart...
Couldn't take it anymore...
So you live me godless...
Just spread your tentacles of hate
around my life..
I've taken more than you could ever give..
You can't believe that someone
challenges your right..
I'm gonna send you back your pain...
I ask all who have gathered here to join me..
In this feast may we always be strong in body,
spirit and mind, and all of those who would try to harm us,
let them be cast aside.
02 Anything (04:50)
Anything you want
Anything the world has to offer
I can give you
If you just reach out to me
Take my hand
Everything a kiss cannot bring
I will give you
If you just say you will
And it's freedom in my arms
And it's freedom in my arms
In my arms
In my arms
In my arms, yeah
Anything you want
Anything this world has to offer
I can give you, yeah
All this world and it's glories
And it's sins
I will give it all to you
Take my hand
If you just say you will
And it's freedom in my arms
And it's freedom in my
In my arms
In my arms
In my arms
Anything you want
It's in my arms
Anything you need
It's in my arms
(repeat to end)
03 Bodies (04:25)
chorus:
bodies please don't cry
bodies please don't die
bodies please don't cry
bodies
i been taking all the silver
i been taking all the gold
i'm gonna stuff it down the throat
of a week old corpse
save that doggone soul
i been saving up my pain
i'm gonna give it back in spades
i been strangling the cries
from the murder of love
save your soul tonight
i been raising up the dead
gonna send them to the house of cain
i been praying in light
of the waning moon
slay your doggone soul
i been taken out of heaven
i been put upon this world
i been walking up and down
to and from
save your doggone soul
i got bodies on the left
i got bodies on the right
i got bodies up and down
all across town
save your soul tonight
04 How the Gods Kill (05:58)
If you feel alive,
in a darkened room
Do you know the name,
of your solitude
If you ain't got the answer,
if you don't know the truth
If you want the power
then let it flow through
would you let it go,
ooh, would you let it go,
ooh, would you let it go,
ooh, would you let it go,
they cannot end this morning
of my life
show me
how the gods kill
If you feel alive
If you got no fear
Do you know the name
of the one you seek
if you want the answer
if you want the truth
look inside your empty soul
there you'll find the noose
would you let it go,
ooh, would you let it go,
ooh, would you let it go,
ooh, would you let it go,
they cannot end this morning
of my life
show me
how the gods kill
05 Dirty Black Summer (05:14)
no summer in the wintertime
will keep you warm
like a funeral pyre
and nothing
like an august night
drenched
in your loving
i got a dirty
black summer
and nothing
in the coolest light
cant stop the walking out across
the line
no holding back the summer night
i got a feeling
it's just a dirty
black summer
07 Heart of the Devil (04:40)
i am
heart
of the
devil
i have
heart
of the
devil
i can make a man
freeze in his tracks
i can make a man
fall to his death
i can make a girl
so eager to please
i can make a young girl
lay down
for me
because
i'm evil
and
love is gone
i can make the skies
thunder and shake
i can make the world
tremble and quake
i can make your pulse
pound in your veins
i can make your heart
stop
and start
again
because
i'm evil
love is gone
i can make the world
tremble and shake
i can make the skies
black in my wake
i can make a girl
so eager to please
i can make a young girl
lay down
for me
because
i'm evil
and
love is gone
my love is gone
08 Sistinas (04:25)
Take my hand
You'll never find
Another quite like mine
If you look
You'll see that I'm
A lonely one
I lost my soul
Deep inside
And it's so
Black
And cold deep inside
Sistine smile
You'll never know
The trap it's set
And if you did
You'd never look
Into
Its eyes
The sun don't shine
The wind won't blow
When you go hide
Without your love
I'm lonely
Deep inside
09 Do You Wear the Mark (04:47)
Devil on the left
An angel on the right
There's no mistake
Who I'll be with tonight
And over in the fore
A lamb's head on my lap
Days pass like weeks
Without the sight
Then comes the fury of the lullaby
Then comes the fury of the lullaby
A heartbeat in a hole
An eyeball loose and wild
Dropping memories
Out upon the open tiles
And over to the left
There sit the loveless ones
Crying slowly
And sucking on a gun
Then comes the fury of the lullaby
Then comes the fury of my lullaby
Yea
Do you wear the mark
Do you wear the mark
Darling, darling
Do you wear the mark
Darling, do you wear the mark
Darling, do you wear the mark
Darling darling
Do you wear the mark
Yea
I've got a new trick to show you
I think you're gonna like it
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