It´s obvious though that a lot of water has run under the bridge, and in the intermediate years Danzig changed their sound and added industrial elements and generally had less focus on the bluesy heavy rock side of their music. Not completely unlike the musical direction on the early albums by the band. Most are slow and atmospheric tracks, but "Eyes Ripping Fire" and "Devil On Hwy 9" are slightly more hard rocking with a heavy bluesy edge. Stylistically most tracks on the album can be described as a heavy and dark type of doomy rock. In addition to the drum parts that Glenn Danzig performs, no less than four other drummers were involved in the recording of the album: Joey Castillo, Johnny Kelly, Karl Rockfist, and Dirk Verbeuren. Vocals, rhythm guitars, some bass parts, and some drums were performed by Glenn Danzig, while lead guitars and the remaining bass parts were handled by Tommy Victor. The material on the 9 track, 43:11 minutes long album were recorded over the course of 3 years, with the initial recording sessions starting in February 2014. The two albums are however bridged by the covers album "Skeletons" from 2015. "Black Laden Crown" is the first Danzig featuring new original material since "Deth Red Sabaoth" from 2010. The album was released through AFM Records/Nuclear Blast Records in May 2017. "Black Laden Crown" is the 11th full-length studio album by US heavy rock act Danzig. Rick Rubin´s organic and stripped down production job is another great asset, which makes the album shine, and upon conclusion it´s a high quality release of dark heavy rock and considering that it´s a debut album it´s a very strong first statement by the band. Eerie Von is a bit more anonymous in the soundscape, but he gets the job done. The latter´s guitar solos are for example absolutely killer. Glenn Danzig´s distinct sounding vocals are defining for the band´s sound, but the powerful organic drumming by Chuck Biscuits and the skilled and inventive guitar playing by John Christ are also worth a mention. The musicianship are also on a high level. So there are few revolutionary ideas here, but the combination of the basic elements including the occult subject matter and the generally dark atmosphere of the album are what makes the difference. The tracks are relatively simple vers/chorus structured songs with a few riffs, a powerful catchy chorus, and a guitar solo. No less than four videos were shot for the tracks "Twist of Cain", "She Rides", "Am I Demon", and "Mother", which probably make those tracks the most known tracks off the album, but there are several other quality tracks featured on this debut album like "Not of This World", "End of Time", "Possession", and the cover of the blues standard "The Hunter". The music is dark, heavy, and hard rocking and the often occult subject lyrics provide the album with an even more gloomy atmosphere. Glenn Danzig more than ever before sounds like a combination of Elvis and Jim Morrison and his voice and singing approach suits the music perfectly. Stylistically the music on the 10 track, 40:56 minutes long album is a departure from both the sound of The Misfits and Samhain as all punk/hardcore influences are shed and instead a blues based hard/heavy rock sound is introduced. "Danzig" has a pretty interesting release history, as it was initially relatively commercially successful, but 5 years after it´s release sold even more copies due to a live version of the track "Mother" being included on the "Thrall: Demonsweatlive (1993)" EP and a video version of the track receiving heavy rotation on MTV. The remaining part of the lineup consists of guitarist John Christ and drummer Chuck Biscuits. Samhain bassist Eerie Von is also a member of Danzig. Before Samhain, Glenn Danzig was the vocalist in horror punk act The Misfits. Danzig was formed in 1987 by lead vocalist Glenn Danzig after his former act Samhain disbanded.
The album was released through Def American Recordings in August 1988 (it was the first release on the then new Rick Rubin owned label). "Danzig" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by US heavy rock act Danzig.