The Misfits are one of those bands that pretty much everyone in the whole ‘alternative’ spectrum has paid some serious lipservice to at one point or another, and rightly so. Perhaps the two biggest bands in the punk and metal scenes (I said ‘perhaps’, don’t lynch me), NOFX and Metallica respectively have seen fit to release Misfits covers and this shows just how their music has come to be so influential for most bands today. There’s a damn good reason for this – The Misfits RULE. This album, released in 1999 shows the full range of musical styles contained within The Misfits‘ music, stretching from the metallic riffage of ‘Scarecrow Man’ to the all-out thrash punk of ‘Lost In Space.’
The atmospheric and creepy ‘Kong At The Gates’ starts the album off, and succeeds in setting the scene. Immediately you know this isn’t going to be your common-or-garden punk album. There’s a definite whiff of 50’s rock ‘n roll and second rate B – Movies throughout, and this is accentuated in ‘The Forbidden Zone’ and ‘Lost In Space.’ These are the first two tracks, and they are just pure punk. You can really hear where Davey Havok took his lessons in “Whoa-ing†and these songs are exhilaratingly energetic. I’ll come onto the lyrical matter later, because I believe they’ve gotta be tackled on their own, but the sheer evocative nature of singing about an alien invasion of ‘â€giant spiders†is just damn cool. When Michale bellows out “The future is here…and here is the future†on ‘Lost In Space’ it’s somewhat confusing. The subject is concerned with the future, but the tone and vibe of the music is just so retro that a dichotomy emerges. The Misfits are preoccupied with the future, but looking through the eyes of the 1950s and horror movies. This is what lends them their unique sound of bluesy chord sequences taken straight out of an Elvis ballad and lyrics such as “If I cut off your arms and cut off your legs would you love me anyway?.†Genius.
To be honest, there are some pretty duff tracks on the album. “Witch Huntâ€, “Pumpkin Head†and “Them†are sludgy and uninspired. It seems their vision somewhat became somewhat overbearing, as the emphasis is on spooky lyrics and atmospheric guitar crunches rather than forming any kind of substantial song. However, the lyrics remain consistently fantastic, as the themes of horror movies are explored fully. Any song which contains both the line “There’s 52 ways to murder anyone, one and two are the same and they both work just as well†next to “I was crying on Saturday night†has gotta be the product of some seriously warped minds, and that’s where the magic of The Misfits lies. The ability to combine such retro styled music (with a modern twist, that of some blisteringly fast punk and hardcore) and the sort of themes you’d find at about 2am on Channel 5 (no, not 11pm you filthy animals) is quite unlike any other band around.
Enough about the crappy tracks, there are far more quite awesome ones. “Scream!†is my personal favourite, because the intro is so damn sleazy that you just know that something good is coming. And smack me with a rainbow trout if it doesn’t. It’s a mix of Bad Religion and Iron Maiden – no bad thing, with a hook so large you could hang Wales on it. “Die Monster Die†has a gorgeously chunky riff to open it and the powerful drumming allows for no slacking off, and “Helena†develops from a 3 chord sequence to an all out thrash punk cacophony that somehow manages to hold itself in just enough to return to the same riff.. Sheer magic, especially when you consider the lyrics, which are all about a particularly obsessive ‘crush.’
‘Kong Unleashed’ finishes the album in the same way that it opened – noisy, brash and atmospheric. It’s as if someone’s taking a big breath and calming down after listening to the album as a whole, since it doesn’t let up once, either musically or lyrically. I really enjoyed Famous Monsters, because it combines several different genres (musically and culturally) with no apologies. It’s not going to be for everyone’s taste, but I assure you that this album is worth buying. Now.
Ben