Samhain

Box Set (E-Magine)
by Martin Popoff

As the construction and assemblage of box sets go, this one, six or seven years in the bloody pudding, is only average. But hey, when you’re talking an obscurity like Glenn Danzig’s fairly overlooked mid-’80s transition band, get happy with what you get. Negatives are quibbles, mainly to do with the booklet, which offers about half the band’s lyrics (two albums’ worth out of four), very scant liner notes (workman-like recollections from two drummers), but quite a bit of good photography. The comic book is a little, er, flimsy as well, physically and intellectually, but then there’s an acceptable video (two shows) and finally – and this is the good part – all of the band’s output, four (or three and a half) albums plus a live disc, called a double, but really only a single of proper CD length. The music alone makes this big sucka worth it though, a bunch of rare albums presented in quite good remaster quality, charting a career that is exciting for its agitated, electric cuspness, Samhain being more Anglo New Wave circa ’78 than America’s often unimaginative punk expressions, stuck art-damaged between the B-movie charm of the Misfits and the daunting metal majesty of Danzig.

And the man’s voice… Geez, it rules. On this material, it’s a little less rule-bound, free to roam the underground as Glenn’s unstudied backing noise merchants stiffly lock up a bat cave vibe that creeps you out after five bloody discs of the stuff. Likely the last word on Samhain, the final resplendent spot you should stop at (whenever you’re ready) to check off the acquisition and ingestion of this particularly tragically cool corner of rock history, one that defies categories, something Danzig has always figured out how to do. Three critically acclaimed bands with big catalogues. You don’t see that every Hallow’s Eve.
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