Misfits – The Devil’s Rain
October 6th, 2011 by chocko
Devil’s Rain is the first album of new material by the Misfits in almost a decade. The current lineup is Jerry Only on bass and vocals, Dez Cadena on guitars and Eric “Chupacabra” Arce on drums. First let’s focus on the positive, the packaging of the CD is awesome especially the cover art. The cover of the album featuring the Crimson Ghost was done by Arthur Suydam, known for his work with Heavy Metal magazine and the Marvel Zombies series. The inside of the digipak also features more art by Suydam, the art from “Twilight of the Dead” single and killer photos of the band by Mick Rock. The CD, released on Misfits Records, also comes with a glow-in-the-dark poster of the coolest looking album cover ever by Suydam and on the reverse side-a new photo of the band!
At this point in time, Jerry is the only original member in the Misfits (maybe that’s why his name is Jerry Only?) and ever since Glenn Danzig left the iconic horror-punk band in 1983, fans have been having a tough time dealing with his absence. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of Jerry on lead vocals. His vocals come up flat at times and just lacks the power or anger to be singing punk songs. I actually would prefer Michale Graves back singing again. The album isn’t bad, all the elements are there: campy, horror themed punk rock (at times a little metal) songs mixed with some vintage rock influences and homages to sci-fi and classic monsters. Dez Cadena (original member of Black Flag) is in his 10th year as a member of the Misfits and he sings on two songs on the album, “Jack The Ripper” and “Death Ray”. The album was produced by Ed Stasium who produced the 1999 Misfits album “Famous Monsters” and whose track record includes working on albums by the Ramones and Talking Heads.
One of my favorites out of the new 16 songs are the Ramones influenced “Dark Shadows” where Jerry actually sounds decent on the track and the song is catchy. I also like “Father” which asks the question “Father have I the curse of the vampire?” which is a cool lyric. Jerry also sings best on 50’s inspired tracks “Monkey’s Paw” (co-written with Daniel Rey) and “Where Do They Go?” which includes girl backup vocals and handclaps. So, definitely give this disc a spin, but don’t expect to hear vintage Danzig-era stuff.
Tags: black flag, dez cadena, jerry only, ramones, review
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