''The Devil's Rain'' is the seventh and most recent
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by
horror punk
Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often influenced by horror films and science fiction B-movies. The genre was pioneered by ...
band
Misfits
Misfits or The Misfits may refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Misfits'' (1961 film), a film starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift
* ''The Misfits'' (2011 film), a Mexican film
* ''The Misfits'' (2021 film), an American ...
, released October 4, 2011, through the label that the Misfits own,
Misfits Records
Misfits Records is an independent record label conceived of in 2002 by founders Jerry Only of the Misfits and John Cafiero of Osaka Popstar. Intended to release Misfits material after the band's contractual obligations to Roadrunner Records were ...
. It is the band's first album in eight years, following 2003's
covers record ''
Project 1950
''Project 1950'' is the sixth studio album by the American horror punk band the Misfits, released in 2003. It consists of cover versions of rock and roll songs from the 1950s and 1960s and marks bassist Jerry Only's debut as the Misfits' lead si ...
'', and the first of original material since 1999's ''
Famous Monsters
''Famous Monsters'' is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band Misfits, released on October 5, 1999. It is the second in the post- Danzig era of the band, and the last album to feature Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Michale Grave ...
''.
It is also the only release by the band's lineup of
Jerry Only
Gerald Caiafa Jr. (born April 21, 1959), better known by his stage name Jerry Only, is an American musician, best known as the bassist for the Misfits and later the vocalist as well. He is the only member to appear in every Misfits lineup.
Biog ...
,
Dez Cadena
Dez Cadena (born June 2, 1961) is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1980 to 1983. Cadena played guitar with Misfits from 2001 to 2015, initi ...
, and Eric "Chupacabra" Arce.
''The Devil's Rain'' was
produced by
Ed Stasium
Ed Stasium is an American record producer and audio engineer, who has worked on albums by the Ramones, Talking Heads, Motörhead, the Smithereens and Living Colour.
History
Stasium began his recording career in 1970 fronting the band Brandywine. ...
, who previously worked with the band on ''Famous Monsters''.
The album is titled after
the 1975 horror film of the same name and features cover artwork by
Arthur Suydam
Arthur Suydam (born May 18, 1953) is an American comic book artist known for his work on Marvel Zombies, Deadpool, Black Panther, and KISS Zombies. He has done artwork for magazines including '' Heavy Metal'', '' Epic Illustrated'' and '' Nationa ...
, who previously did the cover of the band's 2009
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
"
Land of the Dead
''Land of the Dead'' (also known as ''George A. Romero's Land of the Dead'') is a 2005 post-apocalyptic horror film written and directed by George A. Romero; the fourth of Romero's six '' Living Dead'' movies, it is preceded by ''Night of the Li ...
".
Both songs from that single—"Land of the Dead" and "Twilight of the Dead"—were re-recorded for ''The Devil's Rain'', and "Twilight of the Dead" was released as the album's lead single, with "Land of the Dead" as the
b-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
.
The Misfits supported the album with tours of the United States and Australia from September to December 2011.
Background
Like previous Misfits albums, ''The Devil's Rain'' includes references and homages to many past works of horror and science fiction. The title track is based on the 1975 film ''
The Devil's Rain'', while other tracks reference the films ''
The Ghost of Frankenstein
''The Ghost of Frankenstein'' is a 1942 American horror film directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Cedric Hardwicke, Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi. It is the fourth film in the ''Frankenstein'' series by Universal Pictures, and the follow-up t ...
'' (1942), ''
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
''The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb'' is a 1964 British horror film produced, written and directed by Michael Carreras, starring Terence Morgan, Ronald Howard, Fred Clark and introducing Jeanne Roland.
Plot
"Egypt in the year 1900". The mummy o ...
'' (1964), ''
The Black Hole
''The Black Hole'' is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson and produced by Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine, ...
'' (1979), and ''
Land of the Dead
''Land of the Dead'' (also known as ''George A. Romero's Land of the Dead'') is a 2005 post-apocalyptic horror film written and directed by George A. Romero; the fourth of Romero's six '' Living Dead'' movies, it is preceded by ''Night of the Li ...
'' (2005; ''Twilight of the Dead'' was this film's
working title
A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...
). "Dark Shadows" is based on
the gothic soap opera of the same title that aired from 1966 to 1971, while "Monkey's Paw" is based on
the 1902 short story and its various adaptations. "Vivid Red" is inspired by the opening scene of ''
Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...
'' (1992), which depicts
Vlad the Impaler
Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most imp ...
in battle.
Reception
''The Devil's Rain'' sold 6,000 copies in its first week of release and debuted at number 70 on the
''Billboard'' 200, making it the band's highest-charting album.
It received a mixed critical response: at
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the album has an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 46 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Keith Carman of ''
Alternative Press
Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...
'' commented that "The sinewy guitar progressions and coupling of cryptic lyrics with floating melodies is admirable and occasionally infectious" and remarked that the production values mimicked those of the band's 1990s albums ''
American Psycho
''American Psycho'' is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by Patrick Bateman, a serial killer and Manhattan investment banker. Alison Kelly of ''The Observer'' notes that while "some countr ...
'' and ''
Famous Monsters
''Famous Monsters'' is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band Misfits, released on October 5, 1999. It is the second in the post- Danzig era of the band, and the last album to feature Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Michale Grave ...
'', giving the tracks "brightness and color".
Nevertheless, he called the album "''far'' from a classic release", complaining that "an overabundance of half-time pacing has all but eliminated the hard, aggressive edge the Misfits were once revered for" and concluding that "''The Devil's Rain'' yields little more than incredible frustration, a mixed bag with some great tunes worthy of inclusion in the Misfits' second generation yet sorely lacking in primeval vitality."
David Buchanan of
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
described it as "less than amicable and lacking a certain sense of evil pre-
Michale Graves
Michael Emanuel (born March 21, 1975), better known by his stage name Michale Graves, is an American singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist for the 1990s re-incarnation of the horror punk band Misfits from 1995 to 2000, leaving briefly ...
, though ''The Devil's Rain'' is definitely still in a
campy
Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aes ...
, late-Misfits state of mind."
He remarked that "shorter moments in 'The Black Hole' and the screamingly fast beginning pace of 'Jack the Ripper' remind listeners who exactly the Misfits used to be", but noted that as the album plays on, "semblances of the
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...
-era musical muses and
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
inspirations that mutated into early Misfits material fall completely off the radar", saying that some of the album's updated elements might confuse the band's longtime fans.
He concluded that "''The Devil's Rain'' feels like a 50/50 shot-in-the-dark project, starting in a place unsure of its own existence and finishing strong with the uncompromising 'Death Ray.
Matthew Cole of ''
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
'' was critical of the album's musical direction: "As was the case when Jerry Only resurrected the band in the 1990s, the Misfits have incorporated a dose of not-especially-heavy metal into their sound; on a scale of
Winger to
Slayer
Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style ...
, this rocks at about
Scorpions
Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
."
He also criticized the lyrical content: "The lyrics are as absurd as ever: Think of something that scared the crap out of you when you were seven, and it's probably mentioned in 'Ghost of Frankenstein', 'Curse of the Mummy's Hand', or 'Cold in Hell' ... ''The Devil's Rain'' is the work of a band that aspires to give the genre little more than its answer to the '
Monster Mash
"Monster Mash" is a 1962 novelty song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. The song was released as a single on Gary S. Paxton's Garpax Records label in August 1962 along with a full-length LP called ''The Original Monster Mash'', which contained several ...
'."
Joe Hemmerling of
Tiny Mix Tapes
''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...
also remarked on the musical direction of the album, saying that it "continues to straddle the line between punk and metal, combining muscular, thrashy riffs with punk punchiness and the Misfits' own idiosyncratic penchant for melody. The best songs on the album still tend to be the ones that shoehorn in those famous 'whoa-oh-ohs' wherever they can, with the under-two-minute 'Black Hole' being an obvious standout. For the most part, though, those big, sloppy harmonies seem less prominent, often relegated to the background."
He singled out "Death Ray", "Sleepwalkin, and "Where Do They Go?" as standout tracks, calling the latter "the undisputed masterpiece of this album ... The song reframes a story of real-life violence, the ''
las meurtas de Juarez'', as a 50s sock-hop torch song, complete with handclaps and female backup singers. It's a spot-on appropriation of golden age rock 'n' roll songwriting conventions on a topic that's in such deliciously poor taste that it recalls similar forays such as ''Famous Monsters'' 'Saturday Night', or the classic lineup's 'American Nightmare'."
He concluded that "it's not that ''The Devil's Rain'' is a bad album, but it's by far the weakest link in the band's catalog, and coming at a time when faith in the group is at an all-time low."
Jerry Only's vocals received specific comments from several reviewers. Hemmerling remarked "The vocals on the album are a weak point in general. Michale Graves caught a lot of shit for not being Glenn Danzig, but spinning this record helps you appreciate just how significant his contribution was to the group. Only's cartoony, stentorian bark that felt so at home on the excellent ''
Project 1950
''Project 1950'' is the sixth studio album by the American horror punk band the Misfits, released in 2003. It consists of cover versions of rock and roll songs from the 1950s and 1960s and marks bassist Jerry Only's debut as the Misfits' lead si ...
'' falls flat here and lacks the dynamism to invest the listener in the emotional core of these kitschy, monster-movie melodramas."
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's Jason Lymangrover agreed, saying "even the fans who embraced Michale Graves as a replacement vocalist might have a hard time with the bassist's deadpan, articulate crooning. He may be a devil-locked punk icon, but he sounds an awful lot like
Pat Boone
Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...
, and his presence behind the microphone is just as intimidating."
Carman was more blunt: "Point blank: Only is a crooner; a throaty singer worthy of
Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...
or
Damned tribute albums. He's nowhere near maintaining the dark grit, ferocious gusto or guttural severity Misfits songs require."
John Gentile of Punknews.org was more praising of Only's vocal development from previous releases: "Only has clearly taken time to improve his voice. Where he simply used to shout, his voice has become cleaner and more smooth, at times almost resembling '50s crooners like
Dion and
Del Shannon
Charles Weedon Westover (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990), better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for his 1961 number-one '' Billboard'' hit " Runaway". In 1999, he was ind ...
, who blended the dying doo-wop with the infant rock and roll."
He was more critical of Cadena's singing on "Jack the Ripper" and "Death Ray": "Although it's exciting to hear Cadena take vocals on two tracks, he opts to use his deeper, space roc- influenced howl heard on his
DC3 albums in lieu of his skull-cracking bark from
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"Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and r ...
' single."
In a review for ''The Phoenix (newspaper)">The Boston Phoenix
''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' a ...
'', Michael Christopher speculated that the album would be received poorly by those who refuse to recognize the Misfits as legitimate without Glenn Danzig.
"The problem is, and has always been, that it just isn't the Misfits without Glenn Danzig at the helm", he elaborated in the ''Delaware County Daily Times'', "[Only] retains the name in rights only, because there is no true legitimacy left within the group, which has featured a revolving door of backup players."
"That's a shame, because ''The Devil's Rain'' is chock full of good, campy horror business."
He gave the album a mixed review in both publications, praising some tracks while criticizing others: Unexplained', 'Vivid Red', and 'Sleepwalkin' ' are fun and frightfully ferocious. Other points are stumbles: 'Monkey's Paw' has Only trying pitifully hard to ape the Misfits' 'Last Caress', and tracks like 'Curse of the Mummy's Hand' and 'Ghost of Frankenstein' are too predictable to be more than schlock, though it would be funny—in a good, goofy, send-up sort of way—if it was done under another moniker ... These guys just need another alias."
Gentile expressed similar sentiments, complementing Only's bass and Cadena's guitar playing but saying that the group's choice to continue under the Misfits name seemed to limit their choice of subject matter: "while the band has technical chops, it almost seems like they are singing about the occult and undead merely because that's what the Misfits are supposed to do. When original vocalist Glenn Danzig detailed 'the insemination of little girls in the middle of wet dreams', it seemed like that was something he was actually into. Even when second Misfits vocalist, Michael Graves, wailed that he was 'crying on a Saturday night', it seemed he was pulling from true early 20s dejection. But, when Only sings about mummies, or Frankenstein, or even hell, it doesn't seem like that's what he feels is important, but what he is limited to in subject matter, leaving the tunes without any sense of conviction."
He did note that "when the band does become most alive is when they play the style of music that excites them", citing Only's
style in "The Black Hole" as an example.
"''The Devil's Rain'' certainly isn't a disgrace", he concluded, "and long-running fans will find at least a few things to enjoy about the album. It's just frustrating that when the band snaps together and plays what they truly want to play, they aren't so much 'the Misfits' as a band containing a hefty amount of punk talent and experience. Instead of leaving the past behind, they seem to cling to it, forever condemning themselves to comparisons of previous incarnations."
Lymangrover opined similarly, saying the album "suffers from the fact that the group never tries to expand on the vocabulary established 30 years ago. If ''Famous Monsters'' was a step back for the Misfits legacy, this is a bigger step in the wrong direction."
Adapted from the liner notes.
– lead and backing vocals, bass, keyboards (track 10), additional percussion (tracks 1 and 13), monster growls (tracks 6 and 15), sci-fi sound effects montage (track 16)
*
– guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals (tracks 11 and 16), additional percussion (track 13)
*Eric "Chupacabra" Arce – drums
(tracks 2 and 9), additional percussion (tracks 1–3, 8–10, and 13), keyboards (tracks 8–10 and 14), sci-fi sound effects montage (track 16)
*Karin Ullvin –
intro (track 15)
*Jerry Caiafa II – backing vocals, additional percussion (track 13), sci-fi sound effects montage (track 16)
*Mike Serino – backing vocals
*Zack Fortune – backing vocals
*Dominick Dolio – backing vocals
*Joanna Powers – backing vocals (track 13)
*Amy Hartman – backing vocals (track 13)
*Eva Marie Powers Caiafa – backing vocals (track 13)
– producer (track 9, with Stasium)
*Jerry Caiafa II – assistant recording engineer
*Doug Eagle – assistant recording engineer
*Greg Calbi – mastering
– artwork
*John Cafiero – art direction, "Dark Shadows" photograph
*Mick Rock – photographs
*Jon Krop – packaging layout