(Metal/Industrial) Filter- The Amalgamut

[Mekkalayakay]

Filter- The Amalgamut
#1 You Walk Away
#2 American Cliche
#3 Where Do We Go From Here
#4 Columind
#5 The Missing
#6 The Only Way is the Wrong Way
#7 My long Walk to Jail
#8 So I Quit
#9 God Damn Me
#10 It Can Never Be the Same
#11 World Today
#12 The 4th

Favorites: WDWGFH(#3) My long Walk to Jail, So I quit, God Damn me, and It can Never Be the Same.

The best word to describe Filter as would be "haunting".
Just listening to their lyrics will in some cases make you gasp, or you might think, "man, I know what that guy was thinking when he wrote that". Just listening to Filter, you can tell they were highly influenced by NIN, which shows in the bands first album, Short Bus. If I am not mistaken, Richard Patrick, the singer, was a touring member of NIN; hence, why they are so influenced. Filter always finds a way to get a powerful sound. They play mainly in Drop-D tuning.

1. You Walk Away- Starts out with an awesome guitar riff that slowly gets louder and louder within 15 seconds. Then the sound explodes with heavy sound. The drummer does a really nice job througout this song. I have trouble figuring out what Richard Patricks's lyrics are about. But overall, this is a great song. 9/10

2. American Cliche- starts out with this awesome high pitched guitar, then immediately goes into a bass riff. The producer brought out the bass a lot in this song, which makes it better in my opinion. Like the title, this song is about cliches. Great song. I also gave it 9/10

3. Where Do We Go From Here- This is one of my favorite Filter songs. It was the first single of this album. It starts off with muted guitar, sort of like in Take a Picture and slowly goes right into the first verse. Patrick does an excellent job on the lyrics in this song. 10/10

4. Columind- This is not one of my favorite songs on the album, but overall, it is still a great song. The lyrics aren't really sung in the verse, but he isn't screaming either. It is almost a mix. In the chorus, Patrick's voice explodes with frustration. 8/10

5. The Missing- This is one of the slower songs on the album. It was inspired by the terrorist attacks on September 11. It's a nice song to relax to. Patrick's voice sticks out quite a bit in this song, forcing you to listen to the lyrics. Not my favorite, but still a great song. 7/10

6. The Only Way is the Wrong Way- I believe this song was on the soundtrack of one of Adam Sandler's movies. This is another one of Filter's slower songs. Not much to say about this song. I skip it quite a bit. The chorus is the only good part of the song in my opinion. The rest of the song drags.

7. My Long Walk to Jail- This is another one of my favorite songs. It has brutal guitar and a wicked drumbeat at the beginning, which soon leads to Patrick Yelling "1, 2,3,4, Push!!!!"
The verse is almost all base, until it gets to the rising part of the song. The verse smoothly transfers into the chorus. Great song. 10/10

8. So I quit- Another one of my favorite songs. Guitar slowly gets louder and louder, until they double the sound of the guitar. Then Patricks screams "Mother Fuccker" with quite a bit of rage in his voice. That was the only part of the song that I didn't like. In the verse, the producers gave Patrick's voice a weird effect. It sounds good though. The chorus is perfect. 9.5/10

9. God Damn Me- This is one of my top 3 songs of the album. The song is all acoustic, with a great drum beat. This, in my opinion, is the best job I've ever seen Patrick do on vocals. Being the most relaxing song on the album, it really gets you thinking. 10/10

10. It Can Never Be the Same- This at the moment is probably my second favorite song. It starts out a little bit more mellow. Throughout the whole song, it just gets stronger and stronger. Think of it as in a book. The whole song is basically the introduction, leading to the rising action, and finally to the climax. The part that makes this whole song such a great song is the amazing chorus. Great harmonics between Patrick and the lead guitar player. The guitar also adds a nice twist in there. 10/10

11. World Today- I am yet to figure out this song. It is eery and mysterious. Patrick's lyrics sound like he is describing a man that just got out of prison or something. But this is why I like the song so much. It is hard to figure out. 8.5/10

12. The 4th- The whole song is just a low D guitar tuned guitar string; at least that's what I think. and then the vocals are Patrick saying something backwards. That is the whole song. If I have a lot of time on my hands, I will listen to this, but otherwords, it's a waste. It really gets you thinking about things though. 6.5/10

This album is one of my favorites in my collection. I hope many of you consider getting into Filter It's worth it, trust me. Thanks for reading.

Rating: 9.5/10

-Trooper

[Mekkalayakay]

Originally posted by NachoChez
I might buy this, I like what I've heard. It sounds like Wesley Willis saying "You tryin' to take somethin' from me, mother****er?" on "So I Quit", so that's another plus.

lol, yeah, it does. I knew you'd be the first to reply.

I'm going to get Short Bus and Title of Record for Christmas.

[robnathanson]

great review...I've never heard anything by Filter, but I do like NIN. I think I might get this cd



[off topic] I like your avatar Trooper![/off topic]

[Mekkalayakay]

Originally posted by robnathanson
great review...I've never heard anything by Filter, but I do like NIN. I think I might get this cd



[off topic] I like your avatar Trooper![/off topic]

hehe, thanks. Pac-man is awesome.

Short Bus, Filter's first album, sounds the most like NIN, so you can consider that too. But all Filter's CD's (Short Bus, Title of Record, and The Amalgamut) are great.

check some of there songs out at:

www.cdnow.com

www.officialfilter.com

Great review. I've got Title of Record and I haven't listened to it in a while. I might soon becasue of this review.

I got the CD right when it came out, and I'm going to have to disagree with your rewview.

The Album is nowhere near as good as Short Bus, and definitly not a 9.5 out of 10. It's pretty good, but not that good. Maybe a 7.5 or 8/10 maximum.

[OnesandZeros]

I enjoyed this cd a lot but everyone else I know hates it. *sigh*

[madthumbs]

filter are awesome

[Bigbadbob]

Good review TT. Start to finish, I think this is FILTER's best work to date. For me FILTER is best when the accentuate accoustic and vocals and then mix in their dropped D riffs and jam a song to perfection. Like #3 WDWGFH and #9 GD ME.

Still I prefer their slower accoustic stuff like #5 and #6 to their heavier pieces #2 and #7. I cant seem to get the missing out of my head lately great work.

FILTER's a great band...hope to see em live someday!

[br3ad_man]

I saw a link to this review somewhere. I'd just like to tell you that I got it for $2 new