Album Review: The Other - Haunted

I resisted the urge to punish myself, so I didn't hear Glen Danzig humiliate himself by trying to be Elvis. I mean, sure, that's what the guy's whole career has basically been anyway, but it's pretty much universally acknowledged that his tribute album is a colossal wreck. Glen doesn't have half of his voice anymore, his ears are shot so everything he produces sounds like hot garbage anyway, and he picked a whole lot of obscure songs not many people care about. But since Danzig has essentially been trying to piss people off for years, it wasn't unexpected. Why am I talking about him? That's because The Other stands in as the best Misfits in Danzig's sundown years.

The songs on this record sound more like Danzig's history than the man himself is capable of at this point. The vocals have that Elvis-ish echo to them, but you don't hear the croak of death and decay coming through the speakers. That might be fitting for a horror punk band, but we get actually well played and sung music instead, which is a lot better.

This time around, the band dives as much into the human psyche as they do typical horror fare, which strips away a lot of the cheese that can come along with overly violent lyrics. It isn't easy to sing about monsters without sounding a bit ridiculous, so the human monster is a ripe target for this kind of music. And with the band focusing on the roots of their sound, they deliver one song after another filled with down-picked punk chords and hooky melodies. "Vampire Girl" is absolutely a sing-along, even if the topic might get you a few sideways glances when you do.

For someone like me, who isn't well-versed in the punk world (let alone horror punk), The Other comes across like if Bad Religion got depressed rather than angry at the state of the world. There's a similar knack for writing catchy songs, but the color palate is an old black-and-white movie. Glumly energetic, morose energy, some combination of words you wouldn't necessarily put together is what The Other is giving us. This record is a fun blast of burned sugar, the sort of music we don't get to hear nearly enough.

And to circle back to where I started, "Haunted" is also a nice antidote to having to think about old-guard punks who think trolling the audience is the modern equivalent to the destructive asshole-ism they were able to get away with long ago. The Other wants us to enjoy ourselves, and their music, and that's what comes through. However little light is shining through the midnight clouds, we aren't afraid of what's lurking in the shadows. We're excited to find out.