Danzig - Deth Red Sabaoth (2010)
Article originally published on metalonvinyl.net on 10th December 2010.
Deth Red Sabaoth, the ninth studio album from the ever unique Danzig comes six years after 2004’s Circle of Snakes.
During this time Glenn Danzig has released his solo classical effort Black Aria II in 2006, and Danzig (the Band) released The Lost Tracks of Danzig in 2007, a compilation of many tracks that never made their way on to any of the Danzig studio releases.
Recording of Deth Red Sabaoth began in 2008, and according to Danzig he has taken a different approach to the recording process. I've been told several times that the album has a cool vitality to it, that it sounds energized, and I got that feeling when I was recording it. I wanted to have an organic sound, bigger and thicker, so I went out and bought some 1970s Kustom tuck 'n' roll bass amps to play some of the guitar parts through. You'll hear real reverb, real tremolo on this album, which sounds completely different than the stuff that’s done with computer chips.” Glenn said in a statement about the album.
Not only has recording of the album been done in a different light, but musically the album is very raw and is stripped back of any of the industrial sounds that had been present on a number of Danzig’s more recent efforts.
Packaging and Sound Quality
I managed to pick up the standard black vinyl edition of the album, apparently limited to 2000 copies only.
Packaging is the usual affair, with cardboard cover with plain white inner paper protective sleeve. The cover art is quite impressive though. Included in the package is a little card with a download link and code for the digital version of the album for those uninterested or unequipped to rip their vinyl copies.
Sound is quite impressive, with no imperfections of any kind. It is truly a different listening experience when an artist decides to hook up some old analogue amplifiers and record an album without using too much digital processing or mixing.
Lets have a look at a CD/vinyl waveform comparison of the fifth track, On a Wicked Night.
After listening to the CD version of the album, I wasn’t too disappointed with the sound. It’s certainly not the hyper compressed mess like many of the recent Slayer albums or Alice in Chains album. The vinyl does come out favourably in both listening tests and directly comparing the waves to see what’s going on there though, so if sound quality is of the highest importance it’s worth checking it out.
Music:
Very organic and rich sounding. Good stuff.
8/10
Packaging:
Just the usual; cardboard cover, paper protective sleeve. Nice artwork though.
6/10
Sound quality:
Much like the music itself, it’s a very rich and warm experience. No imperfections and nothing really to complain about.
8/10
Final thoughts:
The best Danzig album in a damn long while.