Friday Night Record Party : Balzac: The Birth of Hatred

Balzac: The Birth of Hatred

2011

Misfits Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: Disc 1: 1. The Shadows of Daybreak I 2. Distraction 3. Swallow the Dark 4. Dakedo Sonna Hibi-No Nakade Boku-Wav 5. Momentary Degeneration 6. Hurt 7. Paranoia 8. Frankenstein's Walk 9. Maybe True 10. Destruction = Construction 11. Justice, Pity and Hatred 12. The Howling Wolf 13. Pray 14. The Shadows of Daybreak II 15. Hikari Naki Sekai 16. Unfeeling Blood 17. Dakedo Sonna Hibi-No Nakade (Alternate Take) 18. I Must Do It Anyway 19.Pray (Alternate Version)

Disc 2: 1. Balzac 2. Go Against With My Monster 3. Nothing 4. Diabolic 5. Goddamn Son of a Bitch 6. Scapegoat I 7. Scapegoat II 8. Diabolos 9. Violent Paradise 10. Thirteenth 11. God of Mercy 12. Monster 13. Eeba 14. Who Will Survive 15. The Final Day 16. Break Down 17. Final Freedom 18. Night of the Blood Beast 19. God of Mercy II 20. Fiendish Ghouls 21. 13 Ghosts 22. Atom-Age Vampire In 308 23. A Taste of Blood

Oh my God, this is a lot of Balzac... With two 70 minute discs of music and a third disc featuring the band''s videos, you're looking at over 200 minutes of unrelenting horror-punk...I wasn't sure if I could handle sitting down and listening to this all in a row after spending the last couple days listening to nothing but the other two Balzac albums I own, but it turns out this was pretty easy...

The first disc is comprised largely of their 2008 album "Hatred: Destruction=Construction,"

It actually finds the band stretching out even further...It's still largely consists of hooky pop-punk tracks, but they seem to distance themselves even further from overtly emulating the Misfits, with the notable exception of \ "The Howling Wolf" (which bears a bit of a similarity to "Wolfsblood.")

It says a lot that some of the standout tracks aren't even punk songs. "Hikari Naki Sekai" isn't unlike some bloated Guns N' Roses "Use your Illusion" era ballad...the only difference being I can stand to listen to this...This song actually gets stuck in my head all the time, but since the lyrics are in a different language, I normally just sing nonsense along with it...:"ADEEEEE DYYYYY...."

Another great one is the unlisted track "Tomorrow Never Comes," that follows some silence after the hardcore-screamer "Destruction = Construction." It's a pop-song based around a nagging keyboard hook that burrows its way deeper into my brain each time I hear it... I'm really dying to check out what the band comes up with next!

The second disc contains re-recordings of the band's earliest demos called "The Birth of Evil..."

This is some of the most blatant Misfits-worship in the band's catalog... The sing titles "Goddamn Son of a Bitch" and "Violent Paradise" say it all..."Goddamn Son of a Bitch" has the exact same guitar part and even some fo the same lyrics from "Where Eagles Dare." A lot of this reminds me of "American Psycho" era Misfits, however the cover clearly states that these songs are from 1992-1994, which predates the Misfits reunion...So could it be that the Misfits have been influenced by Balzac? Jury's out here, since I haven't actually heard the original versions of these songs...But it's all fun, solid pop-punk, with virtually none of the hardcore and industrial noise metal that sometimes pops up on their albums...If you're purely into the band for the pop-punk aspect, this is the place to go...If nothing else, check this out for the awesome track "The Final Day"

All in all, this thing is an incredible bargain...3 and a half hours of Balzac and it usually sells for around the $12.00 mark. Everything here is good to great...So if you're into Jerry Only-era Misfits, well...you probably don't need me to tell you to check this out...I'm sure you're already well aware of this...but I think fans of the darker side of punk in general (and don't mind the language barrier) will be well into this...

Oh yea, what do you serve your guests while you're headbanging to Balzac!