''Danzig 777: I Luciferi'' () is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Danzig. It was released on May 21, 2002 by

Glenn Danzig Glenn Allen Anzalone (born June 23, 1955), better known by his stage name Glenn Danzig, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, film director and record producer. He is the founder of the rock bands Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig. He ...

's Evilive label and distributed by

Spitfire Records Spitfire Records was a subsidiary of Eagle Rock Entertainment located in New York City, New York. In September 1998, Paul Bibeau founded, launched and rapidly developed Spitfire Records Inc. from a two-man operation located in his home bedroom i ...

. Danzig stated that this album was the last in a series of seven numbered albums, each with its own general concept. Over the months following the tour for this album, each of the other band members left to pursue other projects. Most notably,

Joey Castillo Joseph William Castillo (born March 30, 1966) is an American musician. He is best known for being the drummer of the hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age from 2002 to 2012. He is currently a member of Circle Jerks, The Bronx, DOOM Regulator, ...

joined

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. ...

; he appeared on Danzig's eleventh studio album ''

Black Laden Crown ''Black Laden Crown'' is the eleventh studio album, and the tenth of all-new original material, by the American heavy metal band Danzig, released on May 26, 2017. Background and production ''Black Laden Crown'' is the band's first album of o ...

'' (2017), but did not officially rejoin Danzig.

Music and recording

The song "Angel Blake" is named after the witch in the film ''

The Blood on Satan's Claw ''The Blood on Satan's Claw'' is a 1971 British supernatural period folk horror film directed by Piers Haggard and starring Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, and Barry Andrews. Set in early 18th-century England, it follows the residents of a rur ...

''. The track "Wicked Pussycat" served as the album's first single. The original track listing, as reported by

KNAC KBUE (105.5 FM, "Que Buena 105.5/94.3 FM") is a commercial radio station licensed to Long Beach, California, that serves the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is owned by Estrella Media and airs a Regional Mexican radio format. Studios an ...

on December 22, 2001, featured several tracks that did not appear on the final album. These included the songs "Dying Seraph", "Soul Eater", and "Malefical Bride of Hell", all of which were released in 2007 on ''

The Lost Tracks of Danzig ''The Lost Tracks of Danzig'' is a compilation album of American heavy metal band Danzig. The set showcases a number of previously unreleased songs, ranging from the band's first recording sessions in 1987–88 until the sessions for their 20 ...

'', with "Malefical Bride of Hell" having its title shortened to "Malefical". An additional track titled "Dark Secret Side" has never been released.

Album title

In a 2002 interview with

Juliya Chernetsky Juliya Chernetsky Denning (, ''Yulia Chernetska''; born July 10, 1982), is a television personality best known for her stage name Mistress Juliya and the popularity on the music-themed network Fuse. She also hosted the heavy metal-themed pr ...

Fuse TV Fuse is an American television channel owned by Fuse Media, LLC, that was originally launched in 1994 as MuchMusic USA, a localized version of the Canadian cable channel MuchMusic, owned by CHUM Limited which was also the parent company of City ...

's ''

Uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

'' show, Glenn Danzig said that the pronunciation of the album title is . This corresponds to Danzig's pronunciation of the word in the chorus of the title track. Early press releases for the album reveal that its working title was ''Danzig 7: Kiss the Skull''.

Artwork and packaging

The CD booklet contains a quotation from

Celsus Celsus (; , ''Kélsos''; ) was a 2nd-century Greek philosopher and opponent of early Christianity. His literary work '' The True Word'' (also ''Account'', ''Doctrine'' or ''Discourse''; Greek: )Hoffmann p.29 survives exclusively via quotati ...

, a second-century AD opponent of Christianity: "They worship neither a god nor even a demon, but a dead man!" Porn star

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

appears in the CD booklet and on the back of the CD jacket. The lyric sheet for the song "Black Mass" contains a misprint: "Asan un Nefer". The correct lyric is ''"Asar-un-Nefer"'' ("Myself Made Perfect"), an epithet of the Egyptian god

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

used especially in the

Thelemic Thelema () is a Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and a new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. Central to T ...

"Bornless Ritual". Earlier in the song, Danzig's lyrics refer to "the Bornless One". The lyrics for "Wicked Pussycat" contain an omission. The correct missing lyric is "five-pointed star-tail": as the lyric is repeated at one point in the video for the song, the camera focuses on the tail/chain of a girl's cat costume; at the end of the chain is a

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

Reception

* ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' – "Uneven as ''I Luciferi'' is, it's a quite listenable and welcome return to truly metallic form for Glenn Danzig...Sure, his best years are most likely behind him at this point, but ''I Luciferi'' proves that this old snake still has some venom left in his fangs." * ''Punknews.org'' – "This album is extremely dark and heavy, as you might expect...The best thing about this album is that it is devoid of filler, the hard smacks just keep coming and don't stop 'till the end." * ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'' – "Controlled, relentless darkness and passion. Great song after great song. Forget the muscles and skulls, this is hard-rock ''music''." * ''

Blistering A blister is a small pocket of fluid in the upper layer of the skin caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, light, radiation, or friction Blister(s) or Blistering may also refer to: * Blood blister * Bleb (medicine) * Anti-torpedo bulge, also know ...

'' – "The effect-laden focus of the previous two albums is long gone, with only hints of the old industrial sound remaining...There isn’t a weak moment on the album. This one has got it all. If you have left the Danzig circle, it’s time to return."

Music videos

Music videos were released for the songs "Kiss the Skull" and "Wicked Pussycat". The video for "Kiss the Skull" was directed by

Thomas Mignone Thomas Mignone is an American feature film, streaming media, commercial, and music video director, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing and writing the dark dramas '' On the Doll'' and ''Queen Of Manhattan'' and for directing concep ...

, who has also directed live action videos for

Verotik Verotik is an American comic book company founded by heavy metal/horror punk Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often infl ...

. The "devil fetus" that appears in the video was designed by Glenn Danzig.

Track listing

#"Unendlich" – 1:51 #"Black Mass" – 4:58 #"Wicked Pussycat" – 4:03 #"God of Light" – 3:39 #"Liberskull" – 5:45 #"Dead Inside" – 5:16 #"Kiss the Skull" – 4:11 #"I Luciferi" – 3:15 #"Naked Witch" – 3:55 #"Angel Blake" – 3:35 #"The Coldest Sun" – 3:59 #"Halo Goddess Bone" – 4:29 #"Without Light, I Am" – 5:32 All songs written by Glenn Danzig

Credits

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, keyboards *

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Howie Pyro Howie Pyro (born Howard Kusten, June 28, 1960 – May 4, 2022) was an American bass player. He was a founding member of The Blessed, Freaks, D Generation, and PCP Highway. Pyro was also the bass player in Danzig (band), Danzig from 2000 to 20 ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Todd Youth Todd Schofield (May 15, 1970 – October 27, 2018), known as Todd Youth, was an American guitarist, best known for his work with Warzone, Murphy's Law and Danzig. Biography Starting in 6th grade, Todd began sneak out from home into New Yo ...

– guitar

Charts

References

The Bornless Ritual {{Authority control Danzig (band) albums 2002 albums Spitfire Records albums