A brand new album from the dark lord himself. Getting a new Danzig album has and will always be an exciting time in any metal head’s life. But in recent years, the odd track aside, they’ve ultimately been a bit of a let-down. There’s always something missing. Weather it was the pummelling beats from drummer Chuck Biscuits or the slick guitar licks from John Christ, something was amiss. Fair enough, being the frontman of punk’s most iconic band The Misfits and then releasing 4(okay 3) untouchable albums after that was always going to take a lot of living up to.

But I’m happy to report that Black Laden Crown is a storming return to form. The current line up of Tommy Victor (Prong) and Joey Castillo (QOTSA) and Steve Zing (Samhain) have been the most stable line up Glen Danzig has worked with in years and we are now hearing the results. The title track is a classic Danzig doom laden, blues number, with searing guitar laid on top. Eyes Ripping Fire a straight up heavy track with a slightly jarred drum beat, which adds an interesting element to the song and those smooth guitar licks I talked about are evident on Last Ride, complete with Addams Family style finger snapping.

Black Laden Crown is wall to wall brilliant tracks, the likes of which we’ve not heard since Danzig IV.  I for one am glad to see Danzig go back to that classic sound. Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards… Chris Andrews