Review Summary: Definitely not the Hurt of old... nothing more than an average mainstream rock album.
I love Hurt. I’ve seen them four times, each time more amazing than the last. I’ve met them on several occasions. I have autographs. Signatures. Drumsticks. Picks. Every album released.
I wish I didn’t have this one.
Gone are the dark days of Vol. 1 and 2. Goodbye to the Machine departs from any metalesque performance that the band had turned in before. Since Vol. 2, the band has replaced 50% of itself, introducing a new drummer and new bassist. This resulted in a total change of sound, from one of the best bands nobody had heard of to what is basically a boring solo album that disappoints at every turn.
Now, that’s not so say its impossible to enjoy this album. I know several people who rave over it. But if you’re looking for anything resembling Rapture, Overdose, Falls Apart, House Carpenter, Summers Lost, Ten Ton Brick, or Thank You For Listening, look elsewhere because it isn’t here.
What is here, however, is a boringly average rock record. The drumming is stale (there isn’t a single passage that grabs your attention). The guitar is wholly disappointing, as the only time it demands attention is a 3-second lick at the end of "Well" that seemingly comes out of nowhere. The bass has some good presence, but nowhere in the record will you find yourself grooving to it. Overall, the band lacks any real dynamic throughout the album, instead playing at the same level throughout each song, with no progressive feel that the band was built on.
Perhaps the most disappointing part of the album is J. Loren’s performance. I was ready to exalt him as one of the best frontmen in music until GttM. It is obvious that he had control over the writing process, and perhaps the departure of half the band allowed him to tighten the grip over the band’s creative process (it was always his band, however) to the point that he basically wrote a vocal-centric solo album. There is some emotion, but it’s not the kind that grips you and pushes you to the edge like Vol. 1 and 2. The violin is essentially absent, and the places it shows up leave something to be desired. Its almost as if the band ran out of inspiration. From past records, J. Loren has dated some messed up heroin addicts who apparently kill babies. That’s some good stuff to write about. There was no reason to go mainstream and write the songs that everyone else is writing.
There are some good points. "Fighting Tao" is a tight rock song. "Got Jealous" is on the right side of tolerable. "Pandora" could fit comfortably on any of the other records. There is a good base to work from. Unfortunately, the record features the played out, 5-years-too-late political anti-war rock of "Wars." We get Seether’s Shaun Morgan mixed over J. on "World Ain’t Right" (if I wanted to listen to a Seether song, I’d listen to a Seether album. But I wasn’t. On purpose.). We get "1331", whose concept is good but delivery is cheesy at best.
Sadly, the record can be summed up with the secret track, “We’re All Going to Die.” The track itself is kinda catchy, and makes you hum along. You WILL be singing this song the first time you hear it. Like a naked bum screaming in the street, it will catch your attention and make you laugh, although ultimately you wish it would just go away. It points out everything that Hurt did wrong on this record. I don’t want catchy and funny. I don’t want the same political statement every good-gone-crap band (ahem, Green Day) has been making for years. I want a dark, progressive, emotional album like the band has been churning out so well for years. Instead, we get Goodbye to the Machine, which in the end, is a disappointment considering the bands potential, no matter what spin a fanboy puts on it.
*Edit- Raised to a 2.5. Album is average in every sense, and should be rated as such.
