The Halloween 1996 release of Blackacidevil on Hollywood Records marks the beginning of new chapter in the multi-faceted artistic career of Glenn Danzig: singer, songwriter, comic book company CEO - and many things yet unexplored. Unafraid to take chances, as his evolution from early bands The Misfits to Samhain to DANZIG has proven, Glenn Danzig, over the last year left his former record label, put together a new band - which now includes former Prong leader Tommy Victor on guitar - and is digging deeper into his musical and lyrical psyche, constantly yielding new and evocative surprises. "On Blackacidevil, I wanted to do something that nobody else was doing. So I took an element of industrial that I like here, and an element of techno there, then mixed it with what I normally do," explains the man behind the band name. "Then I'd still experiment with the different directions - which I wanted to do anyway - and then watch what happend when I mixed it together."

What happend was a combustion of sonic stylings combined with a dark musical passion and machine-age vision that morphed into songs like "Sacrifice," "Hint of Her Blood" and a wonderfully re-worked rendition of Black Sabbath's classic "Hand of Doom." Coincidentally, the first tour supporting Blackacidevil finds DANZIG on the road with Ozzy Osbourne, at the special request of the ex-Sabbath singer. Yet Blackacidevil isn't all that's been occupying Danzig's time: Glenn has been busy, both creating the fifth full DANZIG musical odyssey and working closely with Verotik, his highly successful, cutting-edge adult comic book company. "I don't like to waste my time and I don't like to waste other people's time, so I try to just weave in and out of the outside world and get back to my world as quickly as possible," says DANZIG of the hard work ethic that has clearly served him well in a career that has seen four acclaimed albums and an EP - 1988's Danzig, 1990's Danzig II - Lucifuge, 1992's Danzig III - How The Gods Kill, 1993's EP Thrall/Demonsweatlive, and 1994's Danzig 4p - plus the huge success of the track "Mother," which oddly enough, hit big six years after it's initial release. Moody, controversial videos - often directed by Glenn who cites surreal director Jean Cocteau as an influence - are also prominent in the mysterious and varied DANZIG legacy. ("Am I Demon?" "Her Black Wings" "How The Gods Kill" and MTV buzz Bin clip "Mother '93" are just a few of the clips DANZIG has lensed; home videos, too, where big sellers; the band's fanatical fans snap up anything DANZIG does.)

On Blackacidevil, it's indeniably DANZIG, though the sound takes some unexpected, daring musical turns with human meeting inhuman, as the noisy and almost apocalyptic feel of the lead-off track, "7th House" makes clear. Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell lends his talents to three cuts ("Hand of Doom: version," "See All You Were" and "Come to Silver," which features startling acoustic guitar work amidst higher-tech but never sterile musicality); the rest of the guitar work of Blackacidevil is Glenn's. Rounding out the band are the stellar players who have been with DANZIG since 1995, drummer Joey Castillo and bassist Josh Lazie; Prong singer/axeman Tommy Victor joined on guitar a few weeks before the Ozzy tour, following Blackacidevil's completion. "DANZIG has always been set up, from the beginning, so that I would never have to change the name of the band again," explains Glenn. "It would be my name and if people came and went, then that's the way it was." As for the break with Glenn's long-time former bandmates, they wanted to move in a more retro musical direction - and are now pursuing those interests - while Glenn is moving inot the 21st century with his decidedly Cimmerian approach and able use of technology - rather than letting technology use him.

The new line-up, label and open-minded musical attitude allowed Glenn to experiment on Blackacidevil, which he produced, with Bill Kennedy engineering. "I wanted to just keep expanding, which is something I've done in my career all along. I wanted to get more into technology, which is something that Samhain had been doing." Glenn uses technology to complement his songs and it never overshadows the visceral feeling of his material or his instantly recognizable, impassioned vocals. It's not the first foray into more experimental fare - on Danzig 4p, songs like "Sadistikal" and "Can't Speak" were steeped in machine-age stylings and even on Thrall, the experimental and nosiy "Violet Fire" were the beginnings of a sometimes omninous and futuristic but always dynamic sound that's more fully realized and integrated on Blackacidevil.

Glenn tosses out roughly 20 songs per record, working up the basics in a lowtech home "studio." "I'm the kind of person who will write a song and if I play it the next day and I don't like it, I throw it in the fuckin' trash and never see it again. That's it," he states. The result this time was 10 standout tracks for Blackacidevil. "Once the song starts taking on a life of its own I let it go and keep watching where it's going and then see where I can add to it and make it more defined and purposeful." According to Glenn, the first single "Sacrifice" is "basically about sacrificing yourself throughout your life. It's about killing yourself little by little." While "Hand of Doom: version" is a rare cover song for DANZIG, Glenn makes the songs his own, updating the feel and lyrics. Another track, "Come To Silver," was originally penned for country great Johnny Cash (Cash included DANZIG composition "13" on his American Recording Album.) But DANZIG ended up keeping "Come To Silver," a song that addresses the evils of the almighty dollar for himself. Glenn appreciates the dark melancholy of story-telling artists like Cash and also wrote a song, "Life Fades Away," for late singer Roy Orbison, which appeared on the Less Than Zero soundtrack.

Though music is Glenn's first love and main focus, he applies much energy to outside projects, which besides Verotik - the comic company he founded that boasts such renowned artists as Frank Frazetta, Dave Stevens, and Nancy Collins - includes film work. While Verotik has several film projects in development, Glenn will make his own feature film debut in next year's Prophecy II, Starring Christopher Walken. "There's more fighting than talking," observes Glenn about his role. But that's fine by him, as the singer has spent many years mastering Jeet Kune Do and other martial arts.

As the words to "Come To Silver" indicate, material gain is not a motivation for DANZIG. "My world is happiness first and then if money comes, fantastic," states Glenn. And he should be happy with Blackacidevil, an album as enigmatic and powerful as DANZIG himself. As the vocalist implores in the sinuous but industrialized cut "Serpentia," "It's a bold new thrill/Why don't you come on in." It's an invitation that's hard to resist.