| Danzig – Twist of Cain Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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This is, melodically and lyrically, among the most badass in existence. It's sets the tone, as the opening track, for Danzig first solo LP, which is S/T. Maybe this means that he is done with singing about "Teenagers From Mars". He certainly seems more thorough in and deft with his character studies on this album, and "Twist of Cain" is a brutal, frightening and, yes, catchy (weird combination, but that's been Danzig's MO so far, looking at his previous work w/ the Misfits. Here he seems to be doing something of a case study into the criminal mind. He feels "it" (we don't know what) move him, even forcefully "push" him to "break the law". Though it presents a presumably painful "jabbing" sensation, it "cuts the numbness" and makes him attain his ideal state of being. It make him "come alive". I believe that this "twist of Cain", which he identifies in the chorus that follows, is a drug of some sort. There is a pun on twist, I think, in that it twists his mind toward evil activities, and also suggests either him writhing, twisting from the drug or, maybe, the little pinch (or "twist", as in a small amount of, say, lime in one's drink) that was boiled in a spoon. Yet what giant effects this little "twist" has on him. Not naming the drug makes it all the more sinister, but the "jabbing" sensation is suggestive of a needle and, furthermore, it is "driv(ing his) brain". When drugs bet into your bloodstream and begin to affect your brain, you are essentially the vehicle for the drug you've taken. Some people, or some particularly dirty street drugs, can produce nights like the one documented here. His night gets worse. Hearkening back to the Biblical character of Cain, who's name has become synonymous with evil (this song use Cain's name in this way, too", he kills a man. He was punched, maybe even first (though he is drug-addled and must be an unreliable narrator), but he "took it standing" and presumably kicked the ever-loving shit out of this poor, unnamed bastard. He acknowledges that he "broke commandments", which adds some depth to his character: he was raised with an idea of morality, maybe even went to church with a religious family. There is no remorse, however, as this man appears a "toy" (maybe a flailing ragdoll, synonymous with helplessness) for the narrator to toss around until there is a "crimson highway... From his forehead to the ground". This is beautiful, if you can stand the imagery, foreshadowing of the bloody road that lies ahead of this man. Destruction and carnage will spread out before him. My favorite part in "TOC", melodically, lyrically and conceptually, is when he addresses his "God above" only to declare that he has evil inside his "beating heart". He is of the race that God created in his own image, and to which he gave free will (which he denied even the angels) in order to see what non-mandatory love and respect looks and feels like. This narrator is telling him, actually. Free will has allowed him to feel this "twist of cain", this implacable rage and fury, inside of a heart that God fashioned for humanity to feel and to show their Creator love. Clearly, and interestingly, this narrator is not an atheist. He is a Satanist, as he informs God, gave him the drugs (or, if you don't buy the drug interpretation, just made him angry and destructive). I believe the "Want to know" should have question mark, as this goes along with the notion that this narrator is declaring to God the failure of the human experiment. As in, "Want to know?"; does God want to know that the "God below" (as he calls Satan, ascribing the same power and a purely geographical difference between them, which is another taunt to God) revels in the horrors of drugs, the men who would sell them and profit from their disease-like spread, and all of the men with such sorrow or anger or just pure moral apathy that necessitates the use of obliterating, stupefying and potentiallly/eventually FATAL drugs. Did God put them there to see if humans would be tempted, with the help of Satan's army of fallen angels disguised as pimps, prostitutes and dealers of all kinds, as part of his free will project. If so, this man wants to scream it to the night sky where God is silently alert and listening, raising his blood soaked fists to the sky and displaying the holes that he has poked in the complex protective layer that God, the jack-of-all-trades, weaved for us to keep us warm and to eject toxins? He wants let him know that his "Father... was born of light" (Lucifer was the "Star of the Morning", and Satan's favorite angel), informing God that not only does he consider Lucifer, the disgraced and castoff angel, his true Father, but that the battle between Good and Evil was not settled on the day that Lucifer's assembled 1/3 of God's angels, in revolt, tumbled from the sky and into their new domain: the fiery and frigid doldrums of Hell. It is a never ending battle, as Evil's leader was indeed "born of light", is an angel still, holds powers of seduction that already caused man to lose Paradise and be forever tainted, even at birth, with sin. Lucifer and his earthly followers know that, although the battle was lost, one only need look around to see how helpless the ignorant, apathetic masses would be as the snatching of souls (like a game of Jacks) begins. There are manifold ways to lead moronic, media-addicted humans down some rabbit hole to Hell. The ways to Heaven are long, boring and require patience, virtue, good will and faith. The narrator's arrogance, his brazen slaughtering of human beings and all of the pain of being "cut... down the middle" (the bi-polar life of a junky, and the sheer pain of injection once infection has set in, a vein has collapsed or only the tenderest of spots remain in which to stick a needle) to get fucked-up, oblivious while attuned to misery and the eventual downfall of man, hell- essentially just using drugs perpetuate this feeling of grandeur in his hatred. "Want to know?", God? Such a savage, sad and savagely, sadly true song. All with a backing track and a voice that scares the shit out of the listener. Frank Sinatra has gone to hell for his philandering ways and for his ties with men who are straight descendants of Cain, and he came back to inhabit Danzig, to scream and croon in this metal band and to lay out a picture of the destruction of mankind. Does Danzig/Sinatra love it, identifying with this first narrator? Is this a cautionary tale? Is it simply there for us to decide, like many truly great works of art leaving the Creator's opinion hidden? You decide. What a great fucking opener, though. Eloquent, melodic yet harsh, scary, poignant and one-of-a-fucking-kind. Like him or not, he is so singular it's as if he's "Not of This World..." |
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| Danzig – Evil Thing Lyrics | 12 years ago |
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This song summarizes what Danzig's entire debut has been about: a man who is not a scumbag or a con-artist, but truly evil. He is interested in the morality of his actions to a certain degree, or rather in the exact nature of his inborn sociopathic nature. All of the tracks on this initial album are investigations of desire when it becomes overwhelming and is enmeshed, almost indiscernible, from violence and destruction. He is vaguely aware of how the "blessing is a curse", which I see as a particularly telling line. He puts the "blessing" first, whereas most of us would, when writing about an evil man contemplating the nature of his deeds, turn this line into a stereotypical moment of clarity: "This curse is a blessing..." for whatever reason, e.g. it allows him to learn some lessons about the nature of morality and how deeply man struggles with it. Here, he seems to just be considering his violent streak a curse, and only very briefly at that. The curse seems to be simply that "Seduction and thirst/ Feeds the hunger", and he's insatiable. He's mostly preoccupied with the "thousand angers" that obsess him and, most likely, cause him to act out in such a pessimistically destructive way. He is even sarcastic to the target of his aggression, reminding her to "take a little caution... see the emptiness in my eyes". Most aren't mind readers, unless his eyes are burning coals, and his "take a little caution" returns, mid-attack, as an evil "told you so" moment. He ends the song with a variation on "Want you" romantic tropes that one can find in the songs of crooners a la Sinatra. Danzig, who sounds like an evil, psychotic Sinatra, is speaking romantically and we see that he "want(s) the needing/ Want(s) to feel you near". This is the last sinister joke on the album; while he does want to be near her, he is mocking the terms of endearment that she might long to hear from someone. He wants her near to kill her, because what he "Need(s) your life". His is simply fundamentally different, and he brings the "evil thing", that "soulless" element that makes him desire destruction and blood at his hands. His ability to turn this into black humor and his ability to articulate, without remorse, what happens when he meets you, show that Danzig's character is one of pure evil. It's up to the audience: does pure evil exist? This song is one of the more modern metal sounding songs on the album, where many of the others are slower variations on blues/metal. Not the greatest hook, but a pretty brutal song. I always thought "End of Time" should have closed this album. This works, though. Placing this song last hints at some later straight metal tracks that he will create, and is general enough to serve as the perfect closing song for an entire album about immorality. After listening to this batch of songs, it's clear to me that this dude, or collection of dudes that comprise these ten song/monologues, are not fucking around. They are truly hell born, if such things exist. Otherwise, they are supreme chemical and behavioral aberrations from the norm. |
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