After a near two year hiatus, the Blackest of the Black Tour led
by former Misfits vocalist Glenn
Danzig and his band Danzig are back
for another round, this year hitting the road with a full scale U.S. Tour. Returning to the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City this
past Wednesday night they once again managed to successfully reek havoc on fans
who turned out in droves to celebrate the bands twenty year anniversary. This year’s
stellar line up included direct support from Norway’s reining Black Metal kings Dimmu Borgir, Portugal’s Moonspell, Winds of Plague
and Skeletonwitch. Unfortunately I
was otherwise occupied back stage with interviews and lots of beer drinking and
was subsequently unable to catch the first two bands.
Moonspell were definitely high on my list of
priorities this evening being that the last couple of times they’ve been
through town I’ve had the shitiest of luck with my car breaking down and thus
not being able to make it to the show. Thankfully I made this one and being
that it was such a prominent venue and overall large scale tour for the band I
wanted to give as much support as I could. I was however, very disappointed
that they were only given 25 minutes to play. I was really expecting at least a
40 minute set and felt a bit jilted. That being said they delivered a truly
solid 25 minutes of decadent Gothic Metal fury and passion. Their focus this
time through was mostly placed on the material from their latest CD Night
Eternal and the crowd fervently embraced every second that was offered.
Now I know that Danzig was the headliner tonight but Dimmu Borgir was definitely the main
draw for me. These guys are Metal entertainment at its finest. It’s fitting
that Halloween took place just a week before because the Dimmu guys are primed year round for that holiday. I am totally
taken with the theatrics and combined brutality that this band dishes out in
conjunction with every performance, not to mention the remarkable skill
conveyed in their music. They have it all, driving riffs courtesy of guitarists
Silenoz and stand in guitarist Cyrus (Susperia),
bombastic blast beats provided by the bands latest drummer Dariusz
"Daray" Brzozowski (ex-Vader),
ripping solos and a guttural vocal explosion that is truly wicked to the core.
All this accented with rich melodic textures and decisively placed dark beauty i.e.
the gorgeous female performers (Alecia
and Natalie) who added just the right
amount of extra creepiness to the visual perspective of the bands performance.
Their hour long set consisted of an array of material both past and present
that saw fans exuberantly satisfied and full of Black Metal bliss.
I suppose I may have underestimated the popularity and cult
following that Danzig commands. I new it would be a
fairly decent turn out but I didn’t expect to see the amphitheater fill up to
near capacity; only the mezzanine sections were empty. Tonight’s event marked
my first encounter with the Blackest of the Black Tour. Don’t ask me how I
managed to escape the previous offerings as this sort of thing is right up my
alley but for one reason or another it just never worked out. Danzig is somewhat of a nostalgia trip
for me and legendary in his own right. I put him alongside such iconic
performers as Motorhead or Accept, while they are definitely not
my favorite artists I have a tremendous amount of respect for them and their
contribution to the Metal world. I couldn’t believe the response of the crowd
as they new damn near every word to every song and shouted so loud that at
times it was actually hard to hear Glenn over their roars. Although it was
slated to be the 20th anniversary of the bands existence Glenn
actually tapped a new/old line up this time out with Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative) on drums, Steve Zing (Samhain)
on bass and Tommy Victor (Prong) on
guitar. Of course the pinnacle of the set was his trademark song “Mother” which
made for an absolutely perfect night of all things Metal. After the show I took
advantage of the tip bar backstage and hung with peeps from the industry for a
couple of hours before hitting the road home. I just hope that Danzig and company will return next year as opposed to two, for another stab
at the hearts of diehard Metal fans.
-Priest
