Review Summary: A surprising amount of depth lurks beneath the surface.
Initium is the first album from Samhain, Glenn Danzig's post-Misfits, pre-Danzig outfit. A couple years ago, I struck gold at the McKay Used Bookstore in Knoxville, Tennessee. An original ::Mastered By Nimbus:: copy of Initium rested in the racks for about 8 bucks. Upon playing the music, the mastering didn't sound too different from my old Russian bootleg. I'd blared it in my ears here and there since uploading, finding nuance that wasn't hooky like
Walk Among Us. What is widely known as 'Misfits for big boys' would win me over with time and a series of chain-repeat
Initium full album playthroughs. Goodbye brains. Hello guts.
"This is the night to feast and dine. This is the night to laugh at death." A clear identifying statement from the first non-intro track leads the listener into
Initium's punk metal mire. Fight all you want. It's encouraged, but you're only sinking deeper into the pit. Before you know what happened, the first hidden gem hits your eardrums, mixing pain with pleasure, in the yelling over chanting tribal strongman exhibition that is "Macabre." This track is one reason why it doesn't always matter how bad a recording is. The energy and power of "Life in Pain! Death in Pain!" proves all the mud can't hide the cathartic struggle.
"The Shift" returns the atmosphere to the pulsing tribal terrain. The transition isn't exactly seamless. Breaking into this crunchier territory cost something vital. Hear the delivery and relisten. After the music stops, not much in the way of earworms remain. "The Howl" showcases the truly exceptional storytelling of the writer. A house on on a hill is ignored, shunned, and the transgressors suffer the consequences. "There is a human slaughterhouse upon the hill," and polite society pretends not to hear the howls emanating from within. Back to back, these tracks can blend together, but "the Shift" and "the Howl" stand up like a sick smiling psycho to greet you and happily pull you underneath their personal dark cloud.
Legend has it, album closer "Archangel" was penned for The Damned by Glenn but that never solidified. Fortunate for the initiate of Samhain, as "Archangel" offers the only catchiness you may notice during your first pass. I'm intentionally not mentioning the heavier retread of "Horror Business." Exclusive to this album, "Archangel" delivers with a uniquely epic moment. "Open up all 7 seals" already. Go on. This isn't the horror of Universal movie monsters or B-rated slasher flicks. The focus of Initium is the demons the actors and audiences feed when off-screen and in private.
Before I leave the review box and step back into the year 2023, 39 years after
Initium's original release date, I'd be negligent without offering a couple important things. The first one is "All Murder All Guts All Fun" which is a terribly unassuming singalong about brutality and satisfaction. The narrator assures us that he likes what he has become. Dammit, he's having one heluva good time. I can tell. And finally, "Black Dream" sonically seduces in a way trademarked by the death rock style. Sure, there's a ton of phantom pain, but consider the dark romance. Years later, such is the black reminiscence, you'll notice that your relationship with
Initium could only lead to a tortured existence. Whatever it was you thought you had together was all in your head.
