The first song epitomizes the more heavy-handed hammering side of the band. They throw a bunch of sound at you. This played it closer to what was going on with nu-metal in 1999. I think when it comes to the kind of head bashing grooves "Eyeless" works better than the opener. "Wait and Bleed" pretty much became the band's calling card. The chorus slaps, and Taylor became a better singer over time, but that hooks is pretty solid. "Surfacing" is really heavy for what they are doing here and works here because at this point it had not been done to death. The lyrics have more punch than what we heard on the first Rage Against the Machine album, as these guys were raging at the world not just a machine in it. "Spit it Out' has Taylor rapping the verses, which highlights how they blended in with the times, while standing out.
"Tattered and Torn" finds the band showing their dark side for the first time. If this was your first exposure to this sort of thing and never hear bands like Skinny Puppy before I am sure this was next level twisted. For the purpose of this review it's just an interlude and not even really a song. This album is loaded with these interludes as it's two in a row with "Frail Limb Nursery." The first song to emerge from this mood setting is "Purity", which benefits from the sung chorus. "Liberate' is what we now expect from these guys so in terms of that this album delivers it is a classic. The chanted screaming being so repetitive is the only keystone of the genre at the time that sounds dated. If any of their fans tries to tell you they sound nothing like Korn play this song for them. They draw out the intro to "Prosthetics" to draw you into one of the albums best songs. They balance of dark creepiness and their heavier side works well here.
"No Life" finds them going back to rapped vocals leading into the song and dominate the verses. This causes the chorus to be less impactful. Until the sung refrain they were clowning around here compared to what they have displayed earlier. "Diluted." finds Taylor's screamed questions regarding his life pretty effective. The declaration that only one of walking away, comes and feels pretty real at the time. It hits like hard core band and helps pave the way for metal core to be as big as it is now. "Scissors" is counting as the last song rather than the hidden track for the purpose of this review. They go heavy on the percussion and end up in similar sonic place to where they ended up on "Iowa". It builds into a bunch of creepy mumbling which in these days would get you cancelled. I will also grant this album a 9, putting on par with their others.
No comments:
Post a Comment