Misfits
American Psycho

THE REVIEW

An icon is an icon, whether painted on canvas or carved in stone. For those who need comfort for their weaknesses and fears of living, it could be a madonna or a christ, in Trapani as well as in Rio, or a Shiva for a shepherd in Kathmandu or a fisherman in Mumbai.

Here, the Misfits are an icon. Beyond being so for their music, punk or horror-punk, the genre to which they belong. Beyond being so for their look made of muscles, drooping mohawks, and tattoos. Beyond being the true first band of the singer Glenn Danzig, now a legendary sprite in the history of metal, a gruesome hybrid between an aspiring Jim Morrison and an Elvis on acid. They are an icon simply because, without ever topping the charts, they have created a cult following through generations, each one seduced by that raw and unpolished approach to the material. Only attitude and a huge skull. Which became their icon and printed everywhere. It hardly matters if after only two albums and a slew of minute-long shards, the band broke up due to Danzig's whims.

The seed was already sown and would take root over time, even if they would return to producing music for real only after fourteen years with the release of this "American Psycho". In the meantime, the microphone landed in the skeletal hands of a little-known but suitable Michale Graves, who squeezes his throat in both the typical whooa-whooa that threads through many tracks and in the more trash and hardcore assaults (see "Crimson Ghost", "Blacklight", or "Hate The Living, Love The Dead").

Sometimes the ghost of old acquaintances resurfaces more evidently, like when it seems you hear the spitfire guitar riff of the Iron Maiden in "Mars Attacks" or when the Ramones and their sticky choruses rise from the ashes in "Resurrection". Anyway, you willingly forgive these licenses, rewarded by a handful of little gems like the same "Mars Attacks", "Shining", and primarily "Dig Up Her Bones", which jumps high above the others and has a perfect chorus to memorize and scream...maybe from the grave as per the script. Finally, there is a wrong trajectory: the weak "Day Of The Dead", which, if nothing else, intrigues for being a '50s chord progression dressed in Halloween. Zero brains, a hundred fun.