Review Summary: A highly under rated album which see's Bush taking risks but not straying to far from their signature sound.
After Gavin Rossdale & the boys hit it big with "sixteen stone", they were labelled as grunge copycats, riding on a wave of success created by bands such as Nirvana & Pearl Jam but the release of 1999's "The Science Of Things" proved they may be more than simple grungy clones.
The album kicks of with killer opener "Warm Machine" which hits you like a tonne of bricks with it's wall of sound, big drums and crunchy guitars . When combined with rossdale's catchiest chorus ever you know that this album might just deliver something special. "Warm Machine" is followed by "Jesus Online" which starts with an almost funky drumbeat and some tasty bass slides but unfortunately this track doesn't live up to early expectations, with a somewhat drab chorus. This is then followed by the lead single "The Chemicals Between Us", which in my opinion is one of the best tracks the band has ever put to tape. Another a big guitar riff leads the song in and is followed by a typical rossdale vocal piece and almost electronic sounding drums. The bassline is again smooth and relaxed, almost like the lyrical bravado spouted by rossdale. Basically this is a cool track.
Another big guitar riff brings in "English Fire", but with the annoying drum sound I usually skip through this one. A palm muted guitar riff brings in "Spacetravel", another rocking track, which suprisingly deals with the issue of spacetravel, government and the propaganda that comes with it.
The next track is the fantastically down tempo groover "40 miles from the sun", this is one of the best tracks on the album. Perfect song to just sit and mull over, it is slightly abstract lyrically but still somehow makes perfect sense, even features an almost jazzy outro.
It is then straight back to the rock with "Prizefighter", which will keep the masses happy with its typical rifforama and tasty harmonic use, but not one of my personal favourites.
"The Disease Of The Dancing Cats" see's Bush doing something no other grunge track I've heard do, using an electronically laden bridge part and basically taking a few risks. A fantasically hard rocker which see's rossdale commentating on the plight of the enviroment, this is another definite highlight from the album.
"Altered States" is almost a funk rock number with it's highly danceable bass - drum rhythm section, reminds me almost of Soungarden's "Spoonman", cool track.
Another killer down tempo number, "Dead Meat", follows. A track which see's rossdale at his venomous best lyrically. This is one song that seem's to fire me up everytime I hear it.
This is then followed by the crown jewel of the album, the very moving "Letting The Cables Sleep", lush strings embrace this song and bring it to another level. This is my favourite vocal performance from rossdale. My favourite track on the album.
The album is brought to a close by the Rage Against The Machine-esque "Mind Changer", a hard rocker with a cool bassline it is a suitable end to an excellent album.
This is an album which see's Bush taking a few risks but not straying to much from their winning formula.
Thanks for reading.
