I don't listen to a lot of Samhain, largely because I'm pretty content with the Misfits and it sometimes feels like Samhain was Danzig's warm up for his solo career - kind of like Julie Ruin was Kathleen Hannah's warm up for Le Tigre. I guess that is to say that I don't know the catalogue as well as I'd like and I'm kind of in the process of remedying that situation.

"Let The Day Begin" is a broody song about absolutely nothing from the band's third album, November-Coming-Fire. The lyrics read like a list of short and evil sentences Danzig thought up while watching horror movies in his mom's basement. They're tough lyrics to take seriously, but that could be said about most things Danzig pens. His celebration of macabre made the Misfits famous: an intimidating crooner singing songs about death over three chord melodic punk rock. It's that aesthetic, more or less, that has carried him through most of his career. So I can't really act surprised when he says things like "let the skies all cry."

But "Let The Day Begin" is a good song, even if it falls short of its mark. Danzig stands amidst a flurry of toms and a muddy recording and sings with conviction. The chorus is forgetable, save for his fantastic vocals. I don't even know if I can remember a single riff, but I can hum the vocal melody for the verse. It's understandable why he went solo and maybe this song highlights a lot of the shortcomings of his intermediate project. All in, it's not bad for a warm up lap.

Samhain - "Let The Day Begin"