Danzig

Archive De La Morte (Evil Live/MVD)
by Martin Popoff

Not exactly high concept of hi-tech here, Archive De La Morte offers up 12 Danzig videos, no extras, no diversions. But man, what a slew of hard-hearted rock ‘n’ roll goodies, songs like “Dirty Black Summer” and “It’s Coming Down” sending me back to the albums for a mini Danzig listening party. Too bad a bunch of this is sort of a waste, even past the premise of the package being nothing but 12 videos. Take for example “Dirty Black Summer.” The video absolutely rules: It’s so dark, effective, and evil, with that white/black inverse thing going on, Glenn looking like the destruction of civilization personified. But then it arrives in two more versions, one with Glenn re-“performing” the thing in front of a screen of the video playing, and then the same thing for a third go ’round, only this time with the whole band. “How the Gods Kill” gets a regular, then band-in-front version, like they wandered onto the stage at Danzig Cineplex or something. “It’s Coming Down” is offered in MTV version (a little S&M), Box R version (a little more), and Totally Uncensored (not all that much more again). “Bodies” is offered with two different camera angles, stupid Big Gulp included to ruin the mood. Rounding off, there’s the well-traveled, properly produced “Mother ’93 Live” video and the unreleased “Sistinas” video. All told, all the repetition makes the package quite low on value, but geez, the songs are amazing, and so is the sound, Glenn’s voice, and his whole pumped-up look. I came away glad for the reminder of the power of the Danzig situation, especially back around the How the Gods Kill era when he, and they, soiled the mainstream with their cloven-hoofed rock ‘n’ metal.
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