DANZIG — Black Laden Crown (review)

Album · 2017 · Heavy Metal

3.5/5 · 2018-04-07
UMUR

"Black Laden Crown" is the 11th full-length studio album by US heavy rock act Danzig. The album was released through AFM Records/Nuclear Blast Records in May 2017. "Black Laden Crown" is the first Danzig album featuring new original material since "Deth Red Sabaoth" from 2010. The two albums are however bridged by the covers album "Skeletons" from 2015. The material on the 9 track, 43:11 minutes long album were recorded over the course of 3 years, with the initial recording sessions starting in February 2014.

Vocals, rhythm guitars, some bass parts, and some drums were performed by Glenn Danzig, while lead guitars and the remaining bass parts were handled by Tommy Victor. In addition to the drum parts that Glenn Danzig performs, no less than four other drummers were involved in the recording of the album: Joey Castillo, Johnny Kelly, Karl Rockfist, and Dirk Verbeuren.

Stylistically most tracks on the album can be described as a heavy and dark type of doomy rock. Most are slow and atmospheric tracks, but "Eyes Ripping Fire" and "Devil On Hwy 9" are slightly more hard rocking with a heavy bluesy edge. Not completely unlike the musical direction on the early albums by the band. It´s obvious though that a lot of water has run under the bridge, and in the intermediate years Danzig changed their sound and added industrial elements and generally had less focus on the bluesy heavy rock side of their music. On the last couple of albums the latter style has crept back into the band´s sound though, and "Black Laden Crown" is a combination of the various elements the band have picked up over the years. The material are generally well written and fairly memorable, although a bit more variation could have made the album more interesting.

The musicianship is solid, although there´s little here which requires great (technical) skill to play. Glenn Danzig was born in 1955 and is not a young man anymore, and while he still has a powerful and distinct sounding voice, said voice has changed a bit and has become a bit more hoarse on his older days. "Black Laden Crown" features a sound production which unfortunately takes away some of the power of the music. The instrumental part of the music is often a bit low in the mix, while the vocals are placed unnaturally high. The latter are also produced with an effect, which makes them sound a bit like they were recorded in an empty bathroom, and that´s not particularly pleasant to listen to.

Despite some elements of the album not quite reaching the expectations, it is nice that the tracks generally work well and "Black Laden Crown" is overall a decent quality release. It would be fair if some listeners had their doubts regarding the project after the minor catastrophy of "Skeletons (2015)", but thankfully Danzig make a decent return to form on "Black Laden Crown". The album doesn´t exactly reach the heights of the band´s iconic late 80s/early 90s releases, but less will do and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.