HYLI Vol. LVI - The Misfits and A Hill To Die Upon
Patrick sends Andy an album by one of the GOATs and Andy sends Patrick some more bullshit. Idk man. Do y'all read the blurb? (Andy: I sent him blackened death metal cause that is what he asked for)
Hello party people. Not going to go super long in this here intro this week. My wife had her baby shower this weekend so we got to hang out with a lot of out of town family and friends. It was nice. Andy had me listening to some bullshit during the few breaks I had in between entertaining others but other than that, I had a blast. Hope y’all are well, Hope You Like It.
The Misfits - Static Age
Patrick: Last week, I took Andy on a bit of a Punk 101 journey with The Replacements and, folks, we’re continuing that trend here this week with The Misfits’ Static Age. Every band needs a little freaky guy weirdo who is just prodigiously talented despite being a little twerp (Andy: you minus the prodigious talent). Few people fit that vibe more than Glenn Danzig. The closest to a Napoleon Complex that punk music has ever seen.
On one of my favorite movie podcasts, The Rewatchables, they have a category that is “Who Won the Movie?” There are few examples of “Who Won the Album?” that are more obvious than Danzig on Static Age. Just an all-timer of a vocal performance and it can’t be understated how good the writing is. Not purely in a lyrical sense - I’m not really interested in debating the merits of a line-by-line reading of a horror-punk album (Andy: really truly a good call) a decade older than me lol - but more in the sense of the songwriting structure. These are Elvis songs, these are Ronnettes songs, these are Ramones songs. Classic I-IV-V shit that anyone who picks up a guitar for the first time can hammer out but they’re elevated to all-timer status because this little five-foot-tall Elvis impersonator with an obsession with ghoulies gives an out of his mind performance. I would mention highlight songs like I normally do but it would basically be me listing the entire tracklist. “Last Caress” has maybe the best hook ever. “Attitude” could be sung by Frank Sinatra. “Angelfuck” is the riff of all riffs. What the fuck man. The Misfits rock. I’m not having any anti-Misfits bullshit from anyone*. Hope You Like It.
*the Misfits exist from 1978-1983, I do not care about your alternative facts.
Andy: Honestly, hopefully Patrick doesn’t yell at me for this, but the history behind this album was more interesting than the album itself (Patrick: hmm, might have to yell). Apparently, it was originally recorded in 1978, but wasn't released in its entirety until 1997. So for like two decades, Misfits fans had these songs scattered about and this served as some sort of “holy grail album” for them? I guess they recorded 3 albums and then released them out of order for whatever reason? One was just deleted? Wacky guys! I love it (Patrick: a lot of these songs were available in other collections and they released an album with a different singer before this since Glenn left to do Danzig, but yes, you’re mostly spot on it isn’t that complicated lol).
Great lo-fi sound here (Patrick: i agree so much). The songs were recorded on a shoestring budget in a basement studio, giving them the raw, unpolished feel that I love so much. I wonder if they would have been friends with the guys in Darkthrone and like record an entire split on a walkie-talkie or something (Patrick: don’t tempt Glenn with a good time).
As a certified Babylon Boy, “Hollywood Babylon” was a fun time. "Last Caress," has almost a pop-punk chorus (Patrick: all-time earworm). The song's controversial lyrics have garnered criticism over the years, but was one of the few songs on this album I had heard before - a punk classic. Glenn is definitely the stand-out here. I enjoyed him in this raw setting.
I enjoyed it decently enough but the history behind the album and the band were much more interesting to me (Patrick: i thought you were gonna be more negative on the music based on the first sentence but this is fair, the mystique outweighs the product a bit, maybe you’ll like Walk Among Us more). I Liked It.
A Hill To Die Upon - Omens
Andy: A Hill To Die Upon is some decent blackened death metal in the spirit of Behemoth, except they take the anti-Satan stance instead of the pro-Satan one (Patrick: wow, brave of them). Sorta. Christians can have blackened death metal bands also. While I’m partial to Behemoth, I do think A Hill To Die Upon is criminally underrated. They do blackened death so well.
There was an interview some years ago where the band noted that they focus on good songwriting rather than trying to be too original and I’ve always respected that take. We don’t always need to reinvent the wheel with every band, sometimes they just need to focus on knocking out some great songs. They cover the traditional folk song “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down” (popularized by Robert Plant’s 2010 version) and it rules. All Covers Are Good. “Adept In Divinity” is particularly good - really just a perfect encapsulation of the genre. I’d rank it up there with any Behemoth song if we are being honest. The instrumental “Nehushtsan” is so good man. I love instrumentals like this in albums.
I can’t speak for the rest of the band’s discography as I’ve spent the majority of time with this and their follow-up Holy Despair (also good) but Patrick asked for something that sounds like Behemoth and I literally cannot do any better than this. Hope You Like It.
Patrick: So, I might have set myself up for failure here. Behemoth’s The Satanist (lol) was one of my favorite discoveries of the first year of HYLI and, after a few weeks of black metal, I wanted to try something closer to that sound. Unfortunately, in asking for something similar to something else I really loved, it was almost inevitable that Omens wouldn’t live up. It didn’t. It was fine and begins and ends strong, but the middle was just kind of there to me.
It’s a relief to have a 37-minute album that kinda gets in and gets out with how unwieldy some of Andy’s selections (not intended to be rude)(Andy: rude) can occasionally be. But, even after accepting that, this album still kinda just drags? Coming out of the gate with “Darkness That Can Be Felt,” I was gearing up for another classic. Sick, heavy drums that feel real, good riffs, a commanding vocal presence - but then it just kinda feels repetitive for large swaths of the album with no real dynamics. Strangely enough, the album changes pace a bit with the interlude “Nehushtan,” which kinda won me back over despite not usually loving interludes, but then “May the Thing Be Destroyed” kinda fell flat again.
Luckily, the album ends really strong which has me feeling a bit more positively about the album as a whole than it maybe deserves. The “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down” cover is the best track here. Dude’s voice fits the structure of the song perfectly. I really, really loved that track, more than anything else here in a way that makes it so my memory of this album will probably focus only on that cover. I also love a massive penultimate track and then a good closing track but one that’s less of a build than the track before it. “Ancient Enemy of Death” fits that mold perfectly - a good song, but you’re still kinda basking in the track before it for the first half of the song and then the album is just over. Overall, I didn’t dislike the album, didn’t really love it either, but fully loved one track. That’s fine, what more can I ask for from one of my best friends.