The return of the misfits came off more as the return of a brand rather than a band. Following on from the band's comeback album, American Psycho, Famous Monsters, sounds more like a focus-grouped project rather than the return of one of the most celebrated bands in Punk, and that's exactly why Famous Monsters is so horribly entertaining.
All the elements of the band's original charm is there: short and catchy punk songs with morbidly romantic lyrics and a central theme influenced by 50s horror films. The band's new vocalist at the time, Michale Graves, added a more melodic inflection to the band's usual vocal style, trading much of Danzig's raw energy for something more hauntingly beautiful. It gives tracks like Saturday Night and Descending Angel a much different vibe that taps into the gothic side of the band. Given that the album had strong singles with this kind of energy it's not surprising that they influenced much of the ensuing emo pop generation.
In its quest to sell the Misfits as a product, the album does feel largely uninspired compared to the Danzig era material. However this only adds to its kitschy enjoyment. Guitars are blaringly loud and compressed, lyrical content focuses on 50s horror films because the band needed to do that rather than wanted to, and most of the deep cuts seem to lack direction in comparison to the instantaneously enjoyable pop production of the singles. If Danzig era Misfits was a "love it or hate it" sort of deal, then this era can only be typified as being "so bad it's good".
Famous Monsters is an imitation of The Misfits for the Scream era. It didn't seek to replicate the influence that the band once had but instead delivered it to a new audience. One in which horror became romanticized amongst teens and metal and punk bands were selling musuc as products rather than albums. It's a campy, overproduced product of its time and for that reason I think you should at least give these tracks a listen this Halloween:
SCREAM
SATURDAY NIGHT
SCARECROW MAN
DESCENDING ANGEL
HELENA
Thankyou for reading!
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