Rolling Stone, 7/9/92   
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DANZIG III: HOW THE GODS KILL
Danzig
Def American

   Glenn Danzig was already raging at the heavens when he fronted his 
punk-era band the Misfits. Except for the Sex Pistols, no other punk 
band vented its sociopathic spleen so explicitly. Danzig sang the chorus 
of the Misfits favorite "Astro Zombies" like he meant every word: "I'd do
anythin' to exterminate/The whole fuckin' human race!" But he borrowed his 
imagery from grade-Z movies and old EC horror comics, which served as a 
distancing device. When he sang "Astro Zombies," he was assuming the 
persona of a creature in a film by cult director Ted V. Mikels. His next 
band, Samhain, celebrated the mysteries of the pre-Christian earth 
religions and went way over the noggins of the headbangers. Now Danzig 
rages full on.
   But amid the rage lurk sadness and regret. Danzig may have given up on 
the church long ago, but the way he tells it in "Godless," the stunning 
opening track of How The Gods Kill, that wasn't a casual choice. "I can't 
believe in all your pain/Under the draining of a Christian dieties blood," 
he sings. "You tell your children they're insane... I had to listen to my 
heart... and so you leave me godless."
    For years now, Glenn Danzig's preeminence as a singer has been one of 
rock's best-kept secrets. The passion, vocal musicianship and drama of 
his singing on the title song elevate this mix of metal, brooding balladry 
and unforgettable imagery to sublime status. After starting out sounding 
like a straight-ahead metal band with affinities for both blues and 
thrash, Danzig the group has evolved, in the course of three albums, into 
a resourceful, tightly meshed unit, still rough and raw (no "power ballads" 
or sweet vocal harmonies, thank you) but with range and assurance.
   Danzig embodies the best in contemporary hard rock while displaying 
an originality that trancends genres. The group's music may explore dark 
corners of the human soul, but it does not glamorize the darkness; Glenn 
Danzig is a realist, not a nihilist. His fundamental themes are spiritual 
death and rebirth, the liberation of the individual, the search for beauty 
and truth in the shadows of a cynical world. Rock is alarmingly short of 
visionaries these days; Danzig is the genuine article.   -Robert Palmer
Rolling Stone   December 29, 1994