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SAMHAIN
1984 - Initium.
1985 - Unholy Passion.
1986 - November-Coming-Fire.
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August 1984 - 2024: 40 years of: Initium.

Glenn Danzig's new freakshow.

From the ashes of the MISFITS arises the black-sheep of the family: SAMHAIN ...a bloody voyage inside heavyrock, horror and destructive hardcore-punk. It's going to get bloody.

The Initium debut-LP is all goth, evil-rock and fun. After disbanding the MISFITS, tagging along drummer Steve Zing, Glenn kept things moving along ROSEMARY'S BABIES drummer-turned-bassist Eerie Von, in once again true DIY fashion. When record-labels don't listen, you release it yourself.

A vast thick black cloud overheads us with the eerie "Initium" intro and then "Samhain" bursts-off like a massive brass-knuckle punch. The mid-paced "Macabre" pounds you into submission and Glenn's gigantic baritone voice is put to the test on the album's final epic track "Archangel".

The mosh-pit favorite "All Murder, All Guts, All Fun" is a fist banging-mania that will lead you to a bloodied-nose. "Horror Biz" is a thrashier MISFITS-classic reprise where both skin-heads and punks collide into a full testosterone-brawl, while "He-Who-Can-Not-Be-Named" brings hardcore-punk into blackness for a 1:38sec of pure mosh Armageddon.

In 1984, thrashmetal was still in it's infancy ...yet MISFITS / SAMHAIN had a major role in it's influence. Pivotal impact on the to-be world's biggest metal-band METALLICA, both Hetfield and Ulrich went on record that the MISFITS / SAMHAIN attitude is the spark of their early incarnation. Bassist Burton even had the MISFITS crimson-ghost head tattooed.

Key-players in the East-Coast's scene, this post-punk era shall mutate to eventual crossover. The twisted SAMHAIN experimentations would take a trek into the pandemonium, on 1985's Unholy Passion EP.

*
Initium = full LP
https://archive.org/details/initium
Live in NYC in 1984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swPApo424u0
some guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7ZKX5A7-LQ

January 1985 - 2025: 40 years of: Unholy Passion.

Heading south of heaven.

Following 1984's fast-jab Initium LP, the band now displays another side of death. There's punk, there's hardcore ...and then there's the thick cloud now known as SAMHAIN.

Crushing metal tones are displayed on the title-track for "Unholy Passion" and the furious ravage of "The Hungry End". Another MISFITS cut gets the twist of cain, as "All Hell" becomes part of the left hand black.

From punk to ambient, this 17mins EP would find a foot-hold in the blooming underground thrashmetal scene. The dim-lit rock of SAMHAIN shall later present the zenith of ghoulish punk: 1986's November-Coming-Fire LP.

*
Unholy Passion = full EP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ojNKmmhlQ&list=PLvSr7YMicqHkh6IYMyezOgpzTDVOmB7of
Live in Los Angeles in 1985
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ORA2RSPGNw
some dude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCw9smAODDA

February 1986 - 2026: 40 years of: November-Coming-Fire.

Pure horror.

After 1985's Unholy Passion EP, Glenn's horror show(biz) uplifts the underground to new darks. Mosh-music, street-attitude and bloody-knuckles, during the month of the dead, SAMHAIN burns it up and opens The Gates !

Darkness reigns on the "Diabolos '88" intro and then "In My Grip" blasts aloud in the most abrasive ways. The voice of Lucifuge is pumped on the morbid tales of "To Walk The Night", while both pit-thrash tornados of "Kiss Of Steel" and "Let The Day Begin" are fuckin' lessons in violence.

Glenn's four-scale baritone growl explodes on the massive "Mother Of Mercy" and the deadly "Halloween II" ...a dire sequel to the MISFITS-track of the same name.

Fully afire, the 1986 scene was made of extreme thrash rabies, yet SAMHAIN keept it grounded in traditions. Sadly there would not be a SAMHAIN IV, as lineup changes would ultimately morph into the down to earth bluesmetal powerhouse ...the band-who-can-not-be-named: DANZIG !

*
November-Coming-Fire = full LP
https://archive.org/details/shncf
Live in 1986
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOIkj2wMmlw

more SAMHAIN:

#THE MISFITS
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#DANZIG
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#DANZIG