The Misfits
Static Age

THE REVIEW

I believe many assume that the musical debut of the Misfits, the most famous "horror-punk" band in history, is represented by "Walk Among Us," released in 1982. Not everyone may know that another album, the one I'm about to discuss, was actually written even earlier by these four Californians. "Static Age" was indeed composed and recorded in 1978, when the good old Danzig was still behind the microphone, but published in its entirety, only in 1997, during the era of the Misfits led by Jerry Only, even though many of its tracks are featured in the "Legacy of Brutality" collection of 1985.

The album in question remains a cornerstone of punk but nevertheless not superior to other albums from the Danzig era. "Static Age" presents itself to the ears of the (fortunate) listener as typically "Misfitsian," meaning raw, no-frills, and with irreverent, cruel, and ironic lyrics. However, since it was released almost twenty years after its composition, it benefitted from a more advanced production compared to other Misfits works from the eighties ("Earth A.D." and "Walk Among Us"), something that nevertheless did not guarantee a better result compared to those albums which had the sparse and raw production that made the Misfits' sound famous: in fact, the typical fan of the band in question will be surprised by this excessive cleanliness of the sound, which halves the punk energy, while only the casual listener might be pleased, for example, to hear all four instruments distinct from each other, something that is not exactly typical or frequent in the works of these four horror-punkers. "Static Age" remains, however, a thoroughly enjoyable album, in which some of the group's classics like "Hybrid Moments," "Some Kinda Hate," and "Teenagers from Mars" are present, and in which the mystical and melancholic voice of Glenn Danzig, "the dark Jim Morrison," perhaps reaches its historical peaks.

In conclusion, it's a fundamental album for any lover of the "misfits," who left a very extensive musical legacy, influenced the musical scene of the eighties (famous covers by Metallica and Guns N Roses, "Last Caress" and "Attitude," respectively) and the nineties, and even still inspire bands today, such as Avenged Sevenfold, The Horrors, and Wednesday 13, who cite the Misfits as their stylistic influence, of the current decade.