The Misfits

Earth AD (1983)

Brandon Sideleau

The 3rd and final Misfits full length is a brutal, thrashing, explosion of an album. Many people have criticized this album for it's lack of melody and complete disregard for Danzig's distinct melodic voice. But the key to this album is not in it's melody, but within it's sheer fury and brutality….it's the most utterly violent and bloody stuff I have ever heard. This is obviously the album that inspired hordes of speed metal bands, most notably Slayer.

It begins with the title track's erie opening tune and bursts into a sonic wall of thrashing speed metal. Next is "Queen Wasp", with the opening chorus of "Go, Go, Go" and then bursting into "slightly" more melodic hardcore, reminscent of the faster songs on "Walk Among Us". "Devilock" is a song about keeping your true feelings public and not hiding anything, using the band member's hairstyles as an example. It is another speedy, brutal song recorded at a high decible rate. "Green Hell" has a real "chugga chugga" trainwreck sound to it and is, of course, linked to a classic '50's horror film (one of the few on this album). "Mommy….Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight" begins with a melodic intro and bursts into more thrashing hardcore. The live version of this song is the one to get. It seems that it was recorded at such a high decible rate that the intro to the song sounds strange and barely audible. "Wolfsblood" is another blood drenched, violence obsessed peice of bliss.

But my personal favorite song on this album is "Demonomania", with the opening line "Look Upon Me…I Am The Beast" you just know it is going to break down into the most ferocious thrash/hardcore/speed metal you'll ever hear. With lyrics like "Humans are weak, What else you fucking do, Humans are weak, I want your blood" and "You check and see, the reality of the wolf, it's in the blood, I wanna be the fucking savior" I immediately fell in love with this song. Next is "Bloodfeast", a dark and at times skin crawlingly creepy song. It is slow and very melodic, featuring morbid lyrics like "When they pull out her tounge, Pull off her face, Pluck out her eyes, Well….the blood runs cold for, When it drips from the mouth, be forewarned, be prepared, For a grizzly bloodfeast." The next song is "Hellhound", another bashing hardcore song, this time at mid-tempo speed. The final song is "Die Die My Darling", similar in style to "Bloodfeast" with equally creepy lyrics.

Overall, this album sounds a lot like an extremely fast version of Glenn's next band Samhain, what with the lyrics far more serious and violent than the fun horror film stuff of earlier releases. I liked this album a lot, it is the father of all speed metal and thrash. It is a great workout CD and great "mood" music as well. Not for the weak of heart at all.