Review Summary: (Hed)Planet Earth is pissed off and they would like to share it with you, the listener. Terrible songwriting, bland musicianship and repetitivness makes this the album that will make you hate (Hed)Planet Earth, well that is, if you already don't.
"Guess who's back?" (Hed)Planet Earth return in 2005 with a new label, a new sound, new members and most of all, a new attitude. So what will drive (Hed)Planet Earth to make another record after the commercialy failed, Blackout which was released via Jive records in 2003. Well it will be their own rage and anger towards the music industry and countless rants about politcs and "emo" music and don't forget about the sexual perverted lyrics from vocalist Jahred Shane that make (Hed)Planet Earth so notorious. Perhaps if that didn't turn your back towards Only in Amerika, maybe it shall be the over use of the word f*ck. More than half the album is filled with four letter words which you all know but they are used so often it is no longer a gimmick and losses all meaning and makes the music sound childish.
For this album (Hed)Planet Earth were looking for a more darker aggressive atmosphere and a more punk rock feel. (Hed)Planet Earth is:
Jahred Shane
Jaxon Benge (new guitarist)
Moke (new drummer)
Mawk Young
DJ Product
The album begins with an intro which is something (Hed)Planet Earth have never done and the name given is
Foreplay which gives the listener a hint at want they are about to go into. The intro itself is not interesting at all and lyrics such as "You can't just jump right in the pu**y, you gotta get that sh*t ready first" destroy the chance of it being serious. The album then actually starts with their lead single,
Represent. The song is filled with heavy guitars and simple, yet heavy drum work from Moke. Jahred raps about how much emo music sucks, politics and the FCC. Represent is one of the songs of the record that will actually stand out however only because it can really get the listener moving and bobbing their head.
Throughout the record (Hed)Planet Earth blend punk rock influences with hip-hop influences on tracks such as
The Truth,
CBC and
Chicken which all have one thing in common and that is to piss off the listener and those around the music. Some of it blends well, but most of it is just very horrible. Though some of the tracks have some good musicianship such as The Truth, they still fall into the pit of hell because of the lyrical content for example in songs such as CBC (Cum B*tch Cum) which talks about singer Jahred making girls have orgasms and wrecking their vagina and regretting none of it.
Some of the albums heavier moments are spent on tracks such as the rap metal hybrid
War, which gives listener a sermon about American nationalism and how all of the other countries will bow down to the United States but in the long run, War is one of the better tracks on the disc. Track number six,
The Box is probably the best song off the album. It blends Hip-Hop verses and metal riffs perfectly and shows off Jahred Shanes anger and frustration towards censorship.
Raise Hell can be the track you either love or hate. It is without a doubt the heaviest most aggressive song on Only in Amerika and it features a guitar solo from the newly recruited, Jaxon Benge something new that was not present on earlier releases. But then again the solo is ruined by a chick moaning on and on.
One track that really stood out (not for it being amazing) was
Amerikan Beauty. The lyrics are so laughably absurd and obscene and are all about singer Jahred going out to the club looking for some a**. Jahred meets a young teenager (seventeen as she tells him) and tells her how they should get down and dirty and it features guest vocals from that girl (whoever it may be). The song itself is more of a Hip-Hop song though because of the beats in the background the song is entertaining to say the least, but certainly not something to go off showing to your mother or sister.
It is an album such as Only in Amerika that uses all it can out of the First Amendment, which is free speech, but in this release it was overly used. The album suffers from poor musicianship, very terrible song writing and a lack of good hooks. The music itself is not boring, it's just very bad. We get the point that (Hed)Planet Earth is pissed off at the record industry, but it could have been shown in a different way not so childish. The material feels rushed and raw and has no meaning to it and it is also incredibly repetitive. This is one release that (Hed)Planet Earth and it's fans can live without and moreover, ingore.
Pros:
-Guitar soloing on some songs.
-Some clever rhymes.
-Aggressive tone for all of you teen angst fanatics.
Cons:
-Repetitive
-No strong musicianship.
-Very explicit songwriting
-Some very terrible songs.
Good tracks:
Represent
War
The Box
