Forgotten Heavy Metal Albums: Danzig 3 - How the Gods Kill

1. Godless
2. Anything
3. Bodies
4. How the Gods Kill
5. Dirty Black Summer
6. Left Hand Black
7. Heart of the Devil
8. Sistinas
9. Do You Wear the Mark?
10. When the Dying Calls

Glenn Danzig’s created band called Danzig did a solid job early in their career. The third album in the Danzig series is called How the Gods Kill and it is pretty darn good! There is no vocal contribution by James Hetfield this time but that doesn’t matter because Danzig still maintains their blues rock edge while adding some elements of thrash in it (Left Hand Black). However, I do think that Glenn overdoes it a bit with the high pitched yells such as in the song "Heart of the Devil" so I will have to deduct a few points from the album’s overall rating. Those high pitched yells from Glenn are somewhat like someone who is straining their voice while trying to let the sound out. The original lineup of Glenn, Eerie Von, John Christ, and Chuck Biscuits would last until 1995 and this is the lineup that was featured for the first four releases of Danzig. Danzig 3 was released in 1992, a year that saw bands like Pantera take it to a more extreme level in their music to try to get even more popular. But Danzig just stuck to their roots before experimenting with Danzig 4 and then Danzig 5 - Blackacidevil. As the title says, this is one of those albums that may be forgotten because of all the attention given to Megadeth and Metallica. While those two bands were starting to change their musical directions and becoming even more popular, Danzig may have been getting ignored or not receiving enough attention. Which is too bad because it was one of the best bands early in their career.

The song Godless has a dramatic beginning to it after the drums kick in! That’s a great way to keep listeners interested and wondering what’s going to come next. Next, the tempo slows down dramatically, creating a doom metal like atmosphere. The drums consist of slow one time pounding beats. I first heard about this album when being up in the San Francisco Bay area and looking around in an interesting CD store. Godless is a song that changes from very slow to fast and it is about rebelling against someone that has hurt us and caused us to go astray in life because of their weird beliefs. The last part of the song is a spoken part by Glenn Danzig in which he prays that all people gather around and ask for a strong body, mind, and spirit. Those people that try to harm us, may they be cast aside as he says in the song. You could say that this song is inspirational because it shows us that the right direction in life is a life of peace, harmony, and love.

Anything is a very good song that starts out soft and this song is about someone who will go to great lengths to make sure that the one they love will be taken care of. The message of the song, the underlying message is basically that if you “take my hand, I’ll give you anything you want.” Bodies is the next song that we have not even discussed. The song is a mix of bass filled blues as the song drags on with Glenn Danzig straining his voice a bit as if he is shouting.

Next come the two most well-known songs in the album called How the Gods Kill and Dirty Black Summer. How the Gods Kill is a doom metal song about the search for knowledge and the true way for us to understand ourselves and who we really are beneath this physical body that we inhabit during our time on Earth. Left Hand Black is sort of a song that is making fun of religion, though not in a humorous way. It is trying to say that there is a force that will stand up and challenge the accepted notion that there is a God that loves us all. This song also is sort of predicting that the end of the human race is coming and that we should be prepared for it.

Left Hand Black is the only thrash style song on this album but it is a good one. It is hard to argue against any of the first four Danzig albums as all of these are very good. By the time we get to hear the song called “Heart of the Devil,” even though Glenn lets out this shout the song has one of the catchiest riffs in the band’s career. The song’s solo by John Christ is pretty darn good as well.

For heavy metal albums released in 1992, How the Gods Kill is a pretty decent release that may have taken a back seat to other more notable releases that year. Nonetheless, this one is worth listening to when you get the chance. Overall, How the Gods Kill gets a solid 88 points out of 100. The strongest songs in Danzig 3 are several including Godless, Anything, Left Hand Black, Heart of the Devil and Sistinas. Speaking of that song Sistinas it is a soft song that is about love. Some of us may find this song a radical departure from what we have heard so far on this album but this song shows that Glenn can do a good low voice. The song is about someone that has lost their soul and it feels like it is so black and cold on the inside. It may not be Danzig’s best ballad song but it is still a good one to listen to.