Danse Macabre Danse Macabre LP

Mining another absolute fucking gem, General Speech brings us a remastered collection of fabled group DANSE MACABRE, the post-ZOUO brainchild of Katsunori “Cherry” Nishida. This footlong slab cobbles together the band’s earliest material, ten tracks total with alternate versions of three songs and a STEPPENWOLF cover for good (great?) measure. While this is an entirely separate beast from The Final Agony, the spirit of evil lurks here as well. Oozing charisma, DANSE MACABRE conjure moribund hard punk with a tinge of MOTÖRHEAD-esque sensibilities. The label description references Danzig’s post-MISFITS evolution. That’s an apt analogy for Cherry’s trajectory from ZOUO to DANSE MACABRE, which is certainly informed by punk but has a rocker appeal, leaning more towards proto-metal. No reason to belabor the point, this LP puts some crucial cult rock classics at your fingertips and you don’t even have to barter your soul to Lucifer for the price of admission. Hail Satan and praise General Speech!