Nu-metal in recent years has become a dead genre, only the biggest stars of that genre are still around. Disturbed, Slipknot, and perhaps the greatest band of the genre, Mudvayne are really the only massively successful bands left. They return in the year 2005 with what might be called a nu-metal classic.
Lost and Found dropped on April, 12, 2005. I remember the exact date because early in the morning my dad went to Target and bought me it, because that day is also my birthday. This work is tamer when compared to their past records, but I enjoy this more so however.*****
Chad Gray has perhaps the greatest possible voice for nu-metal. His voice is great both when he sings clearly, causing a few songs to be actually really mellow and relaxing and then when he screams his traditionally hoarse voice making songs much heavier, yet at the same time still catchy. Lyrically, Chad Gray is a brilliant man. He manages to use intelligent words and repeating lyrical parts, but manages to keep any song from becoming repetitive. His voice and lyrics for me make a three-minute song seem like a lifetime and causes me to hang on to every word; this happens on almost every song.
Fall into Sleep is without a doubt the one of the greatest songs vocally on the album. It incorporates soothing vocals, along with the repeated verse of “fall into sleep” throughout that makes this almost feel like a nu-metal lullaby. Cliché? Yes, but it is a fitting description of the song.
Determined, originally titled
***ing Determined, is more or less the most consistently metal song with Chad having the roughest vocals, as well as angriest lyrics on the whole album.
“I’m tired of holding up the weight, the weight of the mother ***ing world. All I want is to just get right here, right now. We struggle and fight just to get in a grave, that’s overflowing. Clocks ticking on my fifteen minutes of fame, come on now 123 go. So ***ing determined. Yeah, yeah go…”. It’s pretty much about headstrong and not backing down when the odds are against you. When people first listen to the album and hear this as the opener they’ll be mislead into thinking the album is heavier and much more simpler in terms of song structure than the rest of the record.*****
Quick Note That Must Be Recognized Before Next Paragraph: *You don’t really recognize the true sound of the album until you reach [i]Happy?[i] or
Fall into Sleep as the first two songs
Determined,
Pushing Through, and then
IMN are unlike the whole rest of
Lost and Found.*****
The next thing I have to talk about has to do with both the vocals and bass.
IMN is a
little like
Determined (even yells determined at one point :p) and
Pushing Through in terms of the vocal job that is done is sort of like those songs, but is actually the best job Chad Gray does on
Lost and Found. His voice is rough, loud, and angry, but sometimes will slow down to a slight whisper at times, which shows a lot of range from him. The best part from Chad is probably during the chorus parts that always begin when he sings
“No one, no one could ever understand”, then he’ll sing three different lines
“this life IMN,
“pressure constricting”, or
my life’s exhausted”. The bass is just stellar on this song with fast paced work the whole time and a quick little distorted jazz line during parts of the song that is hidden well under Chad’s voice. No matter how much I love his voice on
Lost and Found, I must admit that the music is even better. Of all the instruments bassist Ryan Martinie is the best on the album. I absolutely love the job that he does on the single
Happy? it is just such a great representation of the job he does on the rest of the album and is also just a great representation of the album as a whole. If you love it, you’ll love the rest of the album. He definitely doesn’t stand out as much as he used to, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is the signature part of the band. As a bassist myself this just furthers why I believe this is a classic because on every songs Ryan’s fingers are all over the fret board and are what drives many of the songs, he just runs rampant everywhere. As evident on the paragraph before,
IMN contains the best bass work, I just dig that hidden little jazz bass line. The song that closes the album
Pulling the String, is just a masterpiece for the bass with a fantastic intro and then lurking in the background with a strange prowess. On the verses Ryan once again shows his jazz influences that only bassists and few others can appreciate. I find that I’ve fallen in love with this song as it just showcases everything that Ryan has to offer on the album. This ties
IMN as containing the best bass work.*****
As for the drums done by Matt McDonough, I find them to be the third greatest asset to the album.
Lost and Found contains many fills that Ryan uses to his advantage, but are excellent anyways. On
Determined Matt unleashes hell and I actually think is the best part of that whole song, containing some nice opening double bass. The drums are actually mixed fairly high in some spots of the record surprisingly, but that just help to showcase Matt’s true talents. The guitar is probably the weakest part of the album as a whole because apparently Greg Tribbet apparently refuses to go above playing power chords, which in all their distortion, I’m not too particularly fond of. He can obviously play and I wouldn’t even mind if he played solos (although I’m not sure if it would work to well on this record).*****
I’ve talked about the different departments of instruments that stick out above the rest on certain songs, but what is the standout of the album? There are two songs that stick out. The first would have to be
Choices, which is a downright epic song that clocks in at 8:05. The riffs of the guitar are here and are the weakest of the song, but still hold the drums and bass together. Near the end of the middle of the song the guitar does play a smoothly distorted line that is the greatest thing the guitar plays the whole record. The samples and fills throughout from the drums, along with the just regular playing make this song great, but what makes it epic is Chad’s voice. He makes the song both heavy and catchy at the same time. The chorus is the downright perfect; I’m in love with it. The bass stands out, but not as much as it does on some other songs. Near the end the instruments continue playing, but the singing stops and both marching footsteps and politicians giving indiscernible speeches. The other comes right after it and is also a single, that song is
Forget to Remember. The bass and drums are what mainly stick out in the song, which is all to common with most songs. However, Chad is the best part because of the greatest chorus that I have ever heard. I’m serious ever since 4/12/05 the lyrics
“I feel it on the inside, twisting and contorting, memory has shaped me once again. Still feel you on the inside, biting through and stinging. Will I ever forget to remember?; it is the catchiest as well as greatest chorus that I have heard this year.*****
In the end, Mudvayne emphasizes on their songs being both melodic and at a heavy tone for most of the album. It’s a little weird though because the bass is the main part of the album instead of usually the guitar for most bands or the vocals and then the guitar takes over the drums job of holding songs together. All of the songs are fantastic and even though many are heavy, they are just as catchy and a number of them could be successful radio singles. The first is that Greg Tribbet needs to at least try to stand out a bit more instead of playing distorted or P.M. guitar power chords. Most songs are complex in structure although a few aren’t (
Determined and
Pushing Through are the most noticeable, but I find both to be enjoyable and add a bit more variety. When everything is over, this proves to push the boundaries of what nu-metal usually offers and proves to be the masterpiece for the genre and is my tied as my favorite album of 2005 along side Co & Ca-GAIBS4-VII:FFTtEoM.
***
A nu-metal classic.
