Album Review: The Misfits - American Psycho (1997)

Superior cover art for the LP release
(compared to the goofy CD version)

As we all know, I'm a Misfits fan boy, yet I'm not caught up in the Danzig VS Graves debate. I've never been one to dog a new singer just for being new (like a lot of people did on Blaze when he joined Iron Maiden.) I like the Graves era Misfits just as much, but I look at them as an entirely different band, which they practically are. So look past the errant Danzig fanboyery, and enjoy some pretty cool horror punk tunes that blend in a little heavy metal and pop punk (and not that fool Blink 182 crap either.)

The album opens with a slow instrumental track. This was actually based off of a song bassist Jerry Only wrote after the Misfits broke up, with his band Kryst The Conqueror. No, I'm not kidding, Jerry is a heavy Christian. Go figure. Anyway, it was a pretty cool little diddy that had lyrics and everything, so I think it's a shame that they didn't record the full song for the album. (Though there is a nice demo version on Cuts from the Crypt.)

This was the proposed design for Jerry's character Mo the Great in KTC.
Utterly Ridiculous.

It then kicks suddenly right into the title track, American Pyscho. In my opinion, this song isn't bad, but it's sort of forgettable. I don't know why it was pushed so hard, nor why the album's name was changed from Dead Kings Rise. They even cut the song Dead Kings Rise from the album (it was included as a bonus track on the vinyl release.) Most Misfits fans would say this is one of the best Graves era Misfits songs. It's baffling why it was cut in favor of some of the other songs.

And here is a something I'd like to point out, while Danzig wrote songs about films and books, they had long been released prior to the song being written. Jerry's tracks always seem to be like he's trying to cash in on something's recent popularity or what he thinks will be popular in the future. American Psycho was written as early as 1996, and it's obviously inspired by the book which was written in 1991. So I'm not quite sure if he was trying to get the song in the 2000 film adaptation, but it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't try at some point. A few of the songs from this album were recorded earlier in 1996, including Mars Attacks. Jerry had heard that Tim Burton was making a film based off of the card series and wrote the song. He then sent it to Burton, but he had already entered post production and it was too late to be put in the film. I think Jerry thought it'd be good marketing if they released a Mars Attacks EP if the song was featured in a movie, and then release a full album with some of that momentum. But the EP got scrapped and some of the tracks ended up on Cuts from the Crypt. I hate to rag on Jerry, but he always struck me as a sort of businessman and not a musician (certainly not one with 'punk values', either.)

But trivia aside, the album doesn't really pick up until the third track, Speak of the Devil. While it's not particularly great, I always find myself singing along to it. It's just one of those gems people tend to look over and it grows on you over time. The next track, Walk Among Us, stands out to me. It's obviously a throwback to the original Misfits' album of the same name. It sounds almost like it was written as the convergence point of the two different sounds, as if the new Misfits are covering an old Misfits song. I really dig it.

Michale Graves, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Dr. CHUD, and Jerry Only.
In the Static Age era Jerry looked like a goofy Peter Pan reject, now he looks like a goofy WCW reject.

A lot of the songs on this album seem to be derivative in nature. The Hunger, From Hell They Came, This Island Earth, Day of the Dead, and The Haunting all seem to be inspired by films of the same name. The Crimson Ghost is written for the classic Misfits mascot, which was borrowed from a serial film of the same name. Interestingly, the song Shining isn't about the Stephen King book or film, but rather it's written about the Poltergeist series. I have no idea why it was done that way. Hate The Living, Love the Dead is also paraphrased from a line in one of my favorite films, Bride of Frankenstein.

Dig Up Her Bones is the better single from the album. Michale's writing shines through everyone else's material, in my opinion. He really wrote some of the best new Misfits material. The album kind of drags in the middle and it really feels like a few of the songs could have been cut. However, there are some goodies in there like Resurrection, This Island Earth, and The Haunting. It closes well with Don't Open 'Till Doomsday, which seems to be loosely inspired by an Outer Limits episode of the same name. There's also a nice hidden track in there that the band wrote with producer Daniel Rey.

Overall, I think it's a strong effort for a band to come back twenty some years later without it's original singer or primary songwriter. Unfortunately, the band would eventually deteriorate over time due to Jerry Only wanting to turn the band into The Jerry Only Show. It's a real shame he has relegated it down to being a weird three piece Misfits and Black Flag tribute band with bad original material. I believe Michale was fired from the band two or three times, and each time they brought in a new singer, fan response was overwhelmingly negative.

I'd say this album is very much worth checking out if you dig some good cheesy fun. It has a very distinct sound thanks to Jerry and Doyle's custom guitars, Michale's strong vocal talent (I have always found him to be very underrated), and good production from Daniel Rey (who has also produced for the Ramones and White Zombie.) It's nice to pop in every Hallowe'en season, but I find myself listening to it pretty often. If you never listened to any of the post-Danzig Misfits stuff, just remember it's gonna be different without him and I think you'll enjoy it if you just give it a try.

You can check it out here on YouTube, but it'll probably get taken down eventually. The uploader graciously included the hidden track and Dead Kings Rise from the LP release. Check it out.