By the time this song came out Danzig had already had his big crossover hit with “Mother.” I’m pretty sure America was in the throes of “Closer”-era Nine Inch Nails mania at this point, though, and the comparatively non-metal electronic vibe of this song is an indicator of that, as is the part-NIN part-Tool video. This is pretty far out of Danzig’s traditional horror-punk and Frazetta-metal comfort zone, and, I’ve always thought, rewardingly so. The primary trick here is repetition. Danzig repeats a series of negative statements on pretty much the same handful of notes without a hint of his Viking Elvis voice to be heard, and the musical backing is exactly the same throughout; the closest it gets to a chorus is just repeating the previous verse while running the vocals and guitars through distortion effects. The tone is relentless and claustrophobic, yet also seductive thanks to that industrial groove–which fits, because the song is about the growing appeal of both isolation and self-destruction, both of which are often attractive to the genuinely depressed. “Gonna live with all my soul inside,” he repeats; elsewhere, “Keep thinking of suicide.” There’s no escape and I find that rather haunting.
I can’t think of anything past How the Gods Kill that I like.
And oh yeah…”Fuck you, motherfucker!”