Review Summary: A great album at the end of an era.
By the latter part of 2003, it was clear that Nu Metal was on a decline in popularity. Korn's Untouchables and Papa Roach's Lovehatetragedy, both released in 2002, failed to sell as much as previous albums by both bands, and MTV ended up popularising more punk and emo bands. The genre's demise was almost guaranteed with the release of the terribly unsuccessful Results May Vary from Limp Bizkit.
Not that Twisted Method seemed to notice.
Twisted Method is:
Derrick "Tripp" Tribbett: Vocals
Andrew Howard: Guitar (Deceased)
Dereck DeSantis: Bass
Ben Goins: Drums
As far as Nu Metal is concerned, this band certainly ticks all the necessary boxes: Ridiculous costumes and body paint, a mixture of rapped, screamed and clean vocals, simple yet fairly catchy guitar riffs, typically angsty lyrics with a significant use of the words f**k and s**t, so this certainly isn't going to sound unfamiliar to fans of the genre or likewise.
However, what this band is able to deliver is a lot of energy in the 13 songs which make up this album. The album name derives from their home town of Cape Coral, Florida, and how the town has gained a reputation for being "extremely boring", so it's clear that they don't like the place that they come from. The album opener "The End" starts with a mix of electronics and a lot of effects added onto Andrew Howard's guitar, which gradually decrease to give the main riff of the song. The song then kicks off with lead singer Derrick "Tripp" Tribbett (Currently playing bass in the band Dope) screaming "F**K YOU!!!!" for around 9 seconds, so as far as album openers are concerned, it's obvious that Twisted Method want to start the album with a punch.
The majority of the rest of the songs in this album consist much of a similar method, although some songs such as "Reach Out", "Change Me" and "Newborn" offer a more melodic heavy sound than others, as well as the inclusion of two ballads, "Awkward Silence" and "Shine". So as far as variety is concerned, there is a small amount, but most of the songs follow the same sort of formula.
As far as actual instrumentation is concerned, the music is simple but effective. Tribbett's vocals are nothing new to the table. He has the ability to rap fairly quickly, as demonstrated on "Shine", and as previously stated he has a good ability to scream. His clean vocals are also effective and he has a good ability to sing, but there are many other singers in this genre out there who sound very similar, if not almost identical.
The riffs that Howard and DeSantis play are very reminiscent of the Nu Metal genre. Downtuned guitars and very simple but catchy riffs. However, this is where my main issue with the album comes in. While I can hear Howard's riffs, the bass is very quiet, and in some places, I was actually questioning whether DeSantis was actually playing.
Goins offers some very catchy drum beats in all of the songs, but again at times it feels like the guitar and vocals are overpowering the drums and the sound feels slightly out of balance.
However despite the somewhat lack of originality on this album and the balance problems, I still find this an enjoyable album and it's certainly a great album at the end of an era which was significant for heavy music, even if it was fairly shunned. The band unfortunately split up two years after the release of this album, after guitarist Andrew Howard was found dead and Ben Goins became a Christian, but this album still has its place. I would recommend it to fans of Limp Bizkit, Korn, 40 Below Summer, Hed PE and similar bands.
Recommended tracks:
The End
Change Me
Panic
Shine
Faceless
