Miss RATM, but dislike the politics they did? Want a more complex chorus (compared to RATM's one line over a killer riff)? Want a more metal side mixed with hip-hop culture? This is what you want. This album as a whole sounds as though a lot of thought and time has gone into it. Although it did take me and I'm sure will take most people awhile to get into it, once you're in this album it becomes classic to you. Basically this album is RATM meets hip-hop with more drugs, sex, emotional pain, and rock. Not only is this album a great mix of sounds going from songs like "Everybody Dies" which are clearly fueled by some pretty intense, callous anger to songs more chilled than Bob Marley like "The Meadow." I would recommend this album to anyone, especially to those who don't like the recent mainstream wave that's going on in music today.
1. Killing Time - a great tune opens in a very motivated metal way. The lyrics are very aggressive and mixed with the very intense bass line and the subtle guitar sounds very cool. The chorus is classic: it breaks into full-on distorted guitars and sounds spot on. Also this song was the theme tune to the movie
3000 Miles to Graceland AND has a quote from
Dragonball Z in it. The lead singer switches from a very painful image of a bee sting to something very graceful - a butterfly - the contrast in these two images really helps to draw out a more violent feel to the song. (***** out of 5)
2. Everybody Dies - Also another very powerful song, the opening verse is punchy, aggressive and great fun to rap along to. Again, a step up in distortion makes the chorus more powerful and elevated vocals help make it very likeable. Again that very agitated aggression is a strong presence in this song, the middle eight is killer too with some subtle but well placed mixing from house DJ, DJ Product (C) 1969, which leads into a built up for a more extreme chorus. The outro makes for good listening to. ****
3. Feel Good Feat. Serj of SOAD and Morgan of Kittie - After the last two tracks this one opens with a more hip-hop drum machine intro, the bass is heavily concentrated on, very simple but powerful with a repeating keyboard note followed by a sudden metal burst for a chorus which contains some mild screaming which fixes perfectly. The next verse and chorus follow suit; however, it breaks into big sounding guitars with elevated vocals and a call reply sequence going on. Following this it breaks into bass and drums with some talking from the lead singers and uses "C'mon" to kick start the song once again with defiant lyrics and hard-hitting guitars suddenly taken back to the verse sequences, yet again the contrast sounds well thought out and brilliantly placed. the great thing about this album is that they never stop pulling tricks out of the bag it opens gain to a new sequence of an angry guitar and insults said over the top. The track ends with the chorus. Another blinder ****
Okay, now I've given you examples of what the song builds are like - I'll keep it a bit more concise. Thanks for reading this far!
4. Bartender. Opens calm, with a great bass line. Belligerent guitar and awesome lyrics. This song has a really great sound and is one of the album's title tracks. Hed PE at their best, a great all-around song that is well worth listening to. It uses dynamics effectively to create a killer song. The song stretches the band's skills to build up a chorus to the max and they are well capable of some great sounds. "ell placed scratching finishes the song of excellency. *****
5. Crazy Legs - Another very hip-hop sounding song. The lyrics aren't in the inlay because even for this genre they contain sex, drugs and n*****. This song still has a great song but I doubt any one wil be happy with you playing it too loud. Some cool almost choir vocals join the chorus and WILL have you singing along. The rapping in this song sounds brilliant and you won't be able to help but learn the lyrics. Good scratching makes another appearance. ***/ ****
6. Pac Bell - I'm not too sure on the title. It uses a sample to introduce the song but you'll probably want to fast forward it. A really hip hop inspired song, would sound cool if you played this one loud in you car at night. Compared to other songs it has very aggressive lyrics and a humming guitar draws into them excellently. the song only gets better the longer you listen to it but trouble is that you may get bored and stop listening. ** (if you only listen to the start) ****(if you listen the whole way through)
7. I Got You - Not the best intro, it is pretty much grunge-sounding chords and yet again another song that takes too long to get good. The chorus uses the intro guitaring but sounds a lot better. the song has a very big sound and is one of the less interesting ones. The cool part comes very late on in the song and is short lived, still a great song but not the best. ***
8.Boom (how you like that) - a very cool sounding hip hop inspired song, will take a few listens to get into but you'll fall for it. The guitars really rock on this song and clever use of call and reply that is drawn out for a long time but doesn't get old as the music evoloves and reshapes around it, one of the better songs on the album. ****/*****
9. Swan Dive - what to say about this song... Easily one one of the best songs if not the best. starts very hip hop but sounds almost jazz and breaks down into guitars with big impact. A great song with ridiculous changes that create an all round amazing song and one out of the only two that don't swear on this album. easily *****
10. Stevie - I've never really liked this song because the song isn't that interesting until late in and again it may be too late. What hed pe do with this song at the interesting changes and parts does sound wicked but maybe they should have cut off the first verse and chorus. Give it a chance. If you listen to it once and don't like it you don't ever have to again. ***
11. Jesus (of Nazareth) - this song seems to tell of a great deal of pain, a really moving one that is extremely dark. Throughout has a great sounds and explodes like a fight between you and your greatest enemy and again uses loud and quite to make this song sound killer. The religious contextual language is interesting because people turn to religion often as a last resort. I personally love this song it contains everything you could want, even a reference to Jeigrmeister! *****
12. The Meadow - having followed such a dark song you expect the oppisite but this song closes the album on an extremely sad note but a choon through and through. Very dark, very depressing, and very cool. *****
Thanks for the read! Comment another time, you must be nakered having read that much.
