Send "Misfits " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 During the mid-1990s, Misfits founding bassist Jerry Only successfully sued Danzig for the rights to perform and tour under the Misfits name. Ever since, the reconstituted Only-lead group, staffed by a rotating cast of punk-rock yeomen, has traipsed across the globe, delivering a Misfits-like product. It's not that the Only-Misfits are terrible-- the music hews closely to the group's original Buddy Holly-meets-B-movie template, albeit with an added dash of metal riffage-- but it is goofier. Without Danzig's combustible presence, the band softened into predictability, their previous menace petering out into Scooby Doo villain-hood. In 1999, they even popped up in a WCW cage match (and got creamed).Misfits' first album of new material in 12 years, The Devil's Rain, finds the band-- Only, former Black Flag guitarist Dez Cadena, and Murphy's Law drummer Eric Arce-- coldly chugging through the motions. In their original incarnation, Misfits made blistering music out of seemingly contradictory impulses. They were muscle heads who bashed out primitive rhythms but sang like third-string crooners and obsessed over B-movie imagery. The sound was aggressive, but romantic in its own tacky, zonked-out way. But nothing on The Devil's Rain growls with the unschooled simplicity of the early years-- songs like "Come Back" and "Horror Business" pitched and yawed on violent, stone-age rhythms. Only, who has taken over frontman duties, just doesn't have the bite in his voice. Where Danzig deftly toed a line between crooning and barking, Only strays too far into the latter category. On "Curse of the Mummy's Hand", he sounds like Pat Boone doing Halloween karaoke. His songwriting is largely driven by straight-faced retellings of midnight movie clichés that come off silly rather than sinister. Like the previous Misfits Mk. II records-- American Psycho and Famous Monsters-- the production is notched up to contemporary pop-punk standards, but added polish makes the music feel remote and impersonal....full text |
| Tinymixtapes |
| What strange and tangled legacy of brutality Misfits have bequeathed to their fiends. The split between Glen Danzig and the other two core members, brothers Jerry Only and Doyle, was legendary for its bitterness, and the ensuing years spent in legal struggles over custody of the band’s identity could give The Smiths a run for their money for the most acrimonious rock ’n’ roll divorce. In the 90s, the battle lines were clear: If you were an old-school hardliner, then any incarnation of Misfits without Danzig on vocals was a desecration. If you sided with Only and Doyle, then you insisted that they had every right to carry on in the band’s name and that Danzig was being an obstructionist dick. Things got more complicated in the aughts when singer Michale Graves and drummer Dr. CHUD quit mid-set during a concert in Orlando, and Doyle announced a hiatus shortly thereafter to spend more time with his family, only to show up four years later on tour with Danzig, playing mini-sets of Misfits classics. Jerry Only quickly pulled together a new all-star lineup in time for the band’s 25th anniversary, including Black Flag’s Dez Cadena on guitar, Marky Ramone on the drums, and Only himself on bass and vocals. The M25 roster was meant to be a stop-gap while they looked for a new front man, but as the years went by and no fourth member was added, the future of the group looked doubtful. From there, it only got worse. In 2009, the entire 90s Misfits line-up reunited sans-Jerry for a one-off performance opening for Danzig at the Starland Ballroom. And then, of course, there was the sordid clusterfuck surrounding the never-to-be-released 12 Hits from Hell record. In the face of all this drama, as well as some questionable merchandising decisions, it’s easy to cynically write off the re-formed Misfits as a cash-grab or an ego trip on the scale of Billy Corgan and whatever barely legal teen he’s deciding constitutes The Smashing Pumpkins this week. To do so, however, would be to discount the obvious devotion that Only has shown to his fans (I have personally witnessed the man plunk down at the edge of the stage at the end of a show to sign autographs and chat with hundreds of kids). Furthermore, all of this is completely ancillary to the music itself, which, contrary to what those old-schoolers will tell you, was of a consistently high quality. You can question Only’s motives for re-launching his musical career under his former auspices, but tuneful anthems like “Dig up her Bones,” “Shining,” and “Helena” were as fresh and distinctive as anything going on in the mainstream punk universe at the time....full text |
| Loudwire |
| As most Misfits fans would guess without hearing a note of music, we’re sad to report that ‘The Devil’s Rain’ pales in comparison to every other record bearing the iconic band’s logo. It’s impossible to separate a new album from the “Misfits” from the context of the band’s legacy overall. I’m a huge Misfits fan. As I type this I’m sitting at my desk which features a Japanese Glenn Danzig figure and a large Jerry Only toy that’s still in the package. I’ve fronted a Misfits tribute band who has played several shows in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas going back to 2003. Misfits co-founder and longtime torchbearer Jerry Only fought a legal battle with Glenn Danzig over the band’s name for years. After the incredibly influential and more or less untouchable horror punks burned out brightly in 1983 following a handful of landmark albums and singles that influenced future stars like Metallica, Only was relegated to advertisements in Thrasher Magazine and toiling away in projects like Kryst the Conqueror while Glenn went on to form Samhain and Danzig. When Jerry and his Misfits guitarist brother Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein finally settled with their former singer, they formed a new version of the Misfits with a young unknown singer called Michale Graves. A new generation of fans were so happy to hear the old songs live that the major label backed Graves version of the band was sort of embraced for a time, even when they released new music under the name. Since then, however, after multiple lineup shifts (current Pennywise singer Zoli Teglas even sang for a time; Marky Ramone from the Ramones drummed on their 25th Anniversary tour, etc.) including the eventual exit of Doyle from the fold, Only has been fronting the current Misfits himself as a trio that also contains ex-Black Flag guitarist Dez Cadena. (Meanwhile, Doyle has been guest-appearing with Danzig on tour). Which brings us to the latest album to bear the Misfits logo and signature Crimson Ghost mascot, ‘The Devil’s Rain.’ Barring the cover tune laden ‘Project: 1950,’ it’s the first Misfits full-length since the Graves-led ‘American Psycho’ in 1997 and ‘Famous Monsters’ in 1999. Only sings with a “dark Elvis” type croon that lacks the grit and dynamics of his former bandmates, including Graves, who wasn’t half-bad. The consensus with plenty of fans is that the Graves-era stuff would have worked great as a new band featuring members of the Misfits. The problem was that it just never held up to the stuff that the band recorded back in the day with Glenn at the helm. This new Misfits album doesn’t even feature Doyle. So would ‘The Devil’s Rain’ work if it was released under the name Jerry Only? Not necessarily… Tracks like ‘Jack the Ripper,’ ‘Ghost of Frankenstein’ and ‘Curse of the Mummy’s Hand’ are so by-the-numbers and overt in their subject matter that they sound lazy and uninspired. It’s as if someone who’s a big fan of the Misfits started a band to emulate their heroes but lacked the creative spark to really make something engaging....full text |
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