Review Summary: Neil Young- "Are You Passionate?"
Glenn Danzig- "Samhain II: Unholy Passion."
Digging deeper into the grave that is Samhain's discography, the second unearthed body is
Samhain II: Unholy Passion. Glenn said it himself, 'it's about sex.' But is sex really evil? Maybe you should ask a reverend or therapist instead of an album reviewer. Since there isn't a reverend or therapist on hand to field your question, I'll see if I can deconstruct the issue in my own way. My approach doesn't lead to a medical diagnosis towards improved quality of life or medicine to make you feel different than you feel now. At five tracks it should be simple.
Looking at the album art, band members with a nude and voluptuous succubus type demoness standing near, one might take Glenn at face value. Then again, the demon at face value isn't especially attractive is she? I don't much care for the skeletal look, but that's me. I'm not here to judge your kinks and fetishes, my friend. Also written on the cover is Samhain, the band moniker. Samhain, pronounced sah-win, is a Pagan holiday and the origin of Halloween. According to Christianity, Godless and Satanless religions, like Paganism, are unholy. To be fervent for that which is not in line with Judeo-Christian belief could be called unholy passion.
Immediately upon pressing play, the album lurches goth-dancingly forward with the title track. The drums really carry that Joy Division-esque swagger throughout this thing. The guitars maintain a similar tone to Initium, but it's the drumming that provides a substantive backdrop to Danzig's howling, yelling, and sing-speaking. "It's unholy!" I can't tell if the lyric is announcing oneself as intentionally unholy or if the wording is meant as someone telling him that what he's doing is unholy. Such is religious trauma. That unfortunate nagging voice could follow a person for their entire life and long, long after leaving the worship and fellowship of what passes for Christianity today.
Another Samhain original, "The Hungry End," seems pretty similar to the title track. At this point, and along with a rather unvarying rehash of "All Hell Breaks Loose," the feeling of the album falls back into Misfits territory. If you wanted more
Initium grit, sorry, you'll have to wait for part III. This time you're getting a few more vocal hooks. Fortunately, there's more of that gothy eighties drum sound, think The Cure, echoing. A cavernous soundscape persists in a pleasing way. "Moribund" offers a little punk punch with a short, simple, and straightforward structure.
Finally, there's "I Am Misery," a closer fitting for many return visits to this desecrated gravesite. If you liked the earlier tinkling sounds, odd moans, and background howls, the layers in this song won't let you down. The lyrics express a decidedly sadistic bent with "I give you a glimpse of hope in the darkness/Let you think that this will end/And then securely nestle on your neck/And drag you back to misery." Lines like this reinforce my earlier stated interpretation and resonate with my own experiences in organized religion. Regardless of what their words suggest, their actions drag you into darkness and misery.
Unholy Passion laughs at the irony within holiness. Before the misery, some passion.
