It’s been seven long years since Danzig has put out a full-length studio album. In 2010, Deth Red Sabaoth was released and since then fans have been teased with Skeletons, released in 2015 on Nuclear Blast Records – a LP entirely of covers ranging from Elvis Presley to Black Sabbath. On May 26th fans will have to wait no longer, Danzig’s tenth full-length studio album Black Laden Crown will be released coinciding the kickoff of “The Blackest of Black Festival” a two-day festival which Danzig will be heading the closing of the final day.
Black Laden Crown was written and produced by Glen Danzig. The album took three years to complete and was recorded with four different drummers (Joey Castillo, Johnny Kelly, Karl Rockfist, and Dirk Verbeuren) with Tommy Victor handling the bass tracks.
The first single and title track “Black Laden Crown” starts off with a slow dark tempo that gives you the feeling you’re being lead to a funeral of your own death, with Danzig’s cold voice telling the story with descending guitar, screeching solos and dark harmonious woes. The drums beating reminiscent of your life flashing before you as heavier grinding guitar riffs quicken the tempo like your heart racing as the flames start to rise you are immediately hooked right into
As you continue through each of the nine songs on the album, the tempo of the songs pretty much stays the same. it’s apparent that the formula used on the last LP Deth Red Sabaoth hasn’t changed much at all. That being said, Black Laden Crown takes pages from their classic albums such as Danzig II: Lucifuge and Danzig III: How The Gods Kill. It can be heard in tracks like “Devil On Hgwy 9”, “Last Ride”, and “But A Nightmare”. With a little less in-your-face bite then the past albums, the nightmarish tales of darkness told through Danzig’s dark bluesy voice on top of classic fading guitar riffs and Tommy Victor’s wailing guitar solos, Black Laden Crown falls nothing short of what we’ve come to know from Danzig in the past.
