Misfits - Famous Monsters [Album]

Roadrunner

October 27, 2009, 04:54 PM

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The Misfits have always been a curious group, more famous for their influence on other bands and pop culture in general than for their own music. Whether you take the original Danzig-led line-up or the current incarnation, originally led by Michael Graves, now by bassist Jerry Only in what can only be described as the world's most OTT pub-band, second only to KISS. Whilst they've never really been relevant in terms of current events, a little occult escapism is always a nice idea, and especially when Halloween week is descending upon us like a parasite-infected Spanish farmer with a chainsaw and brown paper bag, and a new album from the band itself finally due to be released. But enough chin wagging, onto the meat of the album.

A lot of "Famous Monsters" continues in that trademark horror punk style of fast, loud and heavy. Whilst sadly not really being directed with any sense of purpose - the phrase "Singles and Fillers" truly applies with this record. Their 90's songs always had a more radio-friendly sound to them, it's in this album that the band actually starts exploring and expanding their sound. Songs like 'Forbidden Zone' and 'Them' continue the band's trademark in a solid manner, but the album's stand-out moments aren't so much what Misfits are known for doing well, so much as the songs you'd never expect them to try. 'Scream' is a great track for their old ways, but the slightly creepy styling of the introduction lick lends well to this new expansion, and is at its best when combined with the video, directed by zombie-messiah, George A. Romero.

'Helena' is a cross-road for the band - a very twisted love song, wherein vocalist Graves asks "If I cut off your arms and cut off your legs, would you still love me anyway?” Whilst it'll never win any self-respecting sweetheart, there's a final sign of progress from the established 100 miles per hour league of what's been and gone before. 20 years after the band's first releases is a curious time, hey - better late than never, eh?

'Saturday Night' is both a nod to the band's 1950's origins and a fantastic ballad in itself, and has a great imagery to the song throughout. Whilst many purists would cough up a lung upon hearing the words "I was crying on a Saturday Night," it's a great development, and thankfully Graves' lyrics still keep darkness to the story, essentially playing the song as the cries of a love-scorned teenage psychopath.

Which brings us neatly to 'Descending Angel,' a song that is even easier to play than 'Smells like Teen Spirit,' but that is a subtle yet major departure - a power ballad from the Misfits? Of course, it's based around fantasy, as you'd expect, it all really fits, even the also-unheard-of guitar solo which shows signs that Misfits were starting to break out of that "Reunion" tag. A punk band showing signs of artistic exploration might confuse or terrify most fans, it's a brave move, and a well-made one.

Final stand-out song is 'Fiend Club,' a shameless but still welcome nod to the group's fans, who have always been a big part of the band's direction as completely redundant and painfully obvious as that sentence was. It was deliberately written for a simple sing-a-long. Not very many bands go out of their way to throw their fans a bone in that manner, especially considering the album was released in 1999.

My excuse for this is, like all barely worthwhile excuses, at the time of writing its’ Halloween week. Why not bring a bunch of ghouls and fiends into attention? Well, until I can scrape the cash together to get some more current albums, anyways...

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