Just like I did with the Ramones discography, I am skipping the covers album that the Misfits did in the mid 2000's, despite actually having Marky Ramone on it!
So after the second dissolution of the Misfits in the late 90's, Jerry Only decided about 5 years after, to reassemble the group, but this time he recruited a "supergroup" of punk rock musicians; they released a single album in 2004, and the band promptly went on yet another hiatus, until the release of The Devil's Rain in 2011. But instead of going for the same line-up, Only decided to instead make the group a trio, with himself taking the reigns of lead vocalist on top of his bass playing. The result is sadly a lifeless affair that shows that maybe Jerry should of just let the band remain dead after all.
Unlike the last two Misfits releases, I have nary a single track on The Devil's Rain that I enjoy from start to finish. The album opens with the title track, which features a pretty unenthusiastic performance by the band, and some incredibly cheesy rain sound effects hanging in the background. And the lyrics themselves are just laughable. And this is kind of the way most of the tracks here go; we get a so-so instrumental with some weak vocals singing a song about a mummy ("Curse Of The Mummy's Hand") or zombies ("Land Of The Dead").
The only moment I could feel my blood sort of rising in excitement was on the track "Father", but that's because it is one of the few tracks here that doesn't rely on a simplistic chord progression for the entire run time and actually features a pretty decent lead guitar riff. There's also the slightly spooky violin intro to "Ghost Of Frankenstein" which was a nice change of sound, despite that track also featuring more cornball sound effects, this time grunts from the eponymous monster himself.
One thing that I just couldn't find any enjoyment from however were Jerry Only's vocals; he's fine as a backing vocalist, but he just doesn't have the chops to lead. I had my fair share of complaints about Graves, but it's like Only tries to combine both Danzig and Graves into one overly theatrical, whiny mess that doesn't work: not once. He also sounds so unenthusiastic, and like he just isn't having any fun with any of the material here. I mean, I would of loved to get a more menacing album from the band after their less than stellar 90's work, but if I'm going to get a campy romp instead, at least sound like you're enjoying it!
We haven't seen any news of a new Misfits album in 5 years, and like I said at the beginning of the review, I sort of hope it remains that way. I love this band's overall concept and early material a whole lot, but the second half of their career is just a slog to get through, and has very little in the way of redeeming qualities. Though, with news of Danzig and what is left of the 'original' line-up set to do some shows this year, maybe we can at least relive some of the glory days in a live setting, though again, please don't record another album unless it is some stellar stuff.
3.0/10
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