Review Summary: All in all, a great album from an unknown band. A diamond in the rough.
Nu Metal in its heyday, was a lot like Saturday Night Live sketches. A lot of them were throwaway garbage, some you could sit through and not get the overwhelming urge to destroy your CD player, and there was an elite few that you genuinely enjoyed. The fact that the enjoyable ones in nu metal were the ones that were not as popular was no coincidence. Some bands ruined the tag for others.
Here's one redemption in nu metal rendered insignificant: Stepa.
Stepa was formed as Phlip in summer of 1998 in Newbury Park, California. It was formed by childhood friends with the burning passion to play music. They started off playing Limp Bizkit, Korn, and Green Day covers. Before too long, momentum started to build around the young teens fresh out of high school. After a while, some major label known as Interscope caught wind of them and signed them. They stayed long enough to finish the album and ditched it for Locomotive, where it was released in July 2002.
Stepa is:
Blake Beckmann (Vocals)
Shane Swayney (Guitar/Vox)
Brendan Oates (Guitar)
Jessie Krapff (Bass)
Mark Thorley (Drums)
Chaz Kindschi (DJ/Keyboards)
The CD starts off with an electronic intro, don't try to skip it because it doubles as the intro to the first song. Skip it and you skip the first song, which I wouldn't recommend. The first track, Aquarium, officially kicks off with a bass intro, then enter guitars, and drums. The main riff is exceptionally catchy, and very easy to play. Clean chorus soaked guitars in the verses and exploding distortion guitars in the chorus, repeat that, palm muted riff, little rap metal breakdown, then repeat chorus, the end. It's nothing special in its execution, but it's a fun listen.
One thing you'll notice here is, the singer can actually sing, the guitarists do a hell of a job, the drummer is a diet David Silveria, and the DJ isn't soaking every last nook and cranny of the song with scratches and lame effects. A great song to start with. 4.5/5.
Oh boy, if it wasn't for the singer, I wouldn't know what the title of track two was. Oh, the title is Shine. Who would've guessed that? Well, the intro being the singer screaming it before the music comes in at full throttle could be a clue. He can scream too? Yes. In Aquarium, you heard bits and pieces of it in its rap filled breakdown, but not to the extent to where you can't sing along out loud to most of it. That's the case here. This song is still very catchy and listenable, with the verses chugging along then the chorus comes in, woah something I've heard before. The Jekyll and Hyde vocals. Good cop bad cop. It sounds good, but it's been done. In contrast to Aquarium, where it's all hunky dory until after the second chorus. Shine takes the opposite approach. Him and guitarist Shane harmonize Shiiiineee a few times. Then Blake pukes up one more SHIINNEEE after a bass fill. Then repeat the main riff, screams of random nonsense (look up the lyrics, they are nonsense) end the song. 3/5.
Track three, SAP. I don't know why it's capitalized on the record, but I'm not here to complain about titles, just music. The drums start this one off with a catchy beat as the guitars fade in and the DJ engulfs our headphones with light distortion and pitch. "this is the most intelligent thing that I have ever done", caps off singer Blake, with the sarcasm of someone who did something really stupid beforehand.
The verses are light but tight. Is that a good description? The guitars are melodic but palm muted and heavy. The chorus comes in as catchy as an STD in a room of hookers. Very Seether-ish in my personal opinion. The lyrics are ridden with angst and rebellion while power chords control the background. What's the breakdown gonna be here? Build up to another melodic riff and singing. Chorus repeats, the singer AAAAAAYYYYYYs to the end of the song. 3.5/5.
The most melodic and, in my opinion, beautiful songs on this album. Simply titled Free. Lyrically and musically, it brings to mind being depressed and sad at a carnival. Which is somewhat fitting, as this album is like a carnival of sorts, and this song is somewhat depressing. Clean guitars and cymbals play the intro while the DJ plays a spacey drippy effect, then the drums kick in as the vocals come in. The lyrics aren't any more focused than this review is, but it still paints a picture, defeat. In the chorus, the singer harmonizes the title of the song, in a slightly sad and depressed way. The second verse comes in, then the chorus extends to add more to the image. Breakdown? No, another depressed melodic moment. The third verse is different as the guitars go full distortion and the singer sings in a slightly more upbeat manner. Then one more chorus closes the song as the drummer hits every ride and cymbal and crash he has.
Track 5, P.L.U. Presumably short for People Like U. Up until this point, you had the idea that the record was just nu metal inflicted alternative metal, like a carbon copy of Incubus. But no, they're a slightly more pissed off Incubus. For once, the guitars come in alone without the aid of the drummer or even the DJ. Speaking of the DJ, I haven't said a whole lot about his role on the album. He's on every song, but in subtle ways. On this song, subtlety is out the window. The main riff requires his scratches as they add the only melody since the guitars are playing quite literally 0101 throughout. Aggressive verse comes in, start-stop guitars and drum rhythm every drummer had played up to that point. The pre chorus is slightly lame, as it barely adds to the flow except the contrast of the pre chorus and the actual chorus. The chorus, is catchy. Surprise, surprise. No matter what, these guys churn out catchy choruses. Verse, chorus, breakdown. The breakdown adds very little. It's a breakdown for the sake of having one. Then the chorus repeats and the main riff plays it out. 2.5/5
Track 6, the big hit off the record. Or at least in the context of this album, hit. Spaceships And Airplanes. The longest song, clocking in at almost 5 minutes while the rest belly under 4. This is the only single on the record to have a music video. Clean guitars and drums and effects open the song, heavy riff, clean riff under the verse, heavy riff under the pre chorus, which is almost catchier than the actual chorus. Then the chorus, which brings to mind a long car ride. Sailing down the highway at dusk, with the wind being the only noise from the open window. Another verse, pre chorus, and chorus. The same formula as all the other songs on the album. A heavier part with screaming leads into a repeat of the chorus, then he sings a line of the chorus for a minute until the song eventually fades out. 3.5/5.
Track 7, "an absolute slab of nu metal" King Of The Fus. A heavy one note riff that isn't as easy to learn as expected. Power chord, bar chord, open. Wow, never mind, that was easy. That riff plays over a heavy beat. Then for the verse, it all kicks you sideways by changing the rhythm. It's different but it works. The chorus comes in at full throttle. No singing, just screams. This is actually the shortest song from the album. The shortest song right after the longest one. Verse, chorus again. Breakdown. They're breakdowns in the nu metal sense, not the deathcore chuggy grr sense. He's angry rapping. Then the main riff plays. Then the chorus repeats. Then after that, they slow everything down a bit, now it's power, open, bar open. Big changes, guys. Then it ends. 3.5/5.
Track 8. Niklo.
Now, I'm not totally sure who it's about, maybe some girl named niklo? Or maybe just Nikki but they wanted the title to be unique. I don't know. The kick and snare pop the song open and it all starts. Singer singing and everything. No time for main riffs. This song is very formulaic, verse chorus verse chorus melody chorus. But the execution of it all makes it listenable. I think I've said that already, I don't know, this is a long review. This is a return to the more alternative side of the record. One of the first songs since Aquarium that I could tell what he's talking about, and in both of those songs, a girl. 3/5.
One or two things in this next song, Mountain, were conversation topics, no ideas for a main riff or maybe let's let the bassist shine. He hasn't really shined since shine.
The drums and bass open this song, with the guitars making weird noises, I presume. Maybe it's the DJ. Then the verse, guitars are playing and everyone's chipping in with their own parts. The lyrics to this song are actually happy. Which is, for the most part, a departure from the rest of the album, and the singers future writing work in another broke up band of his, Fermata. The chorus explodes with glee and joy and screams and singing, you can't help but to feel happy with him. Then the verse comes back around, then the chorus. Then they have a nice melodic moment, which adds more context to the happiness. He proclaims "today is the last day, no more bullsh*t", which can largely be credited to graduating, which around the time the song was written, he graduated. Chorus repeat. The end. 3/5.
Track 10, Chamelion.
The proper spelling is chameleon, but it's nu metal, who spells things write? Not these Krazy kids. Or any grain or biscuit eating nu metal bands.
This song is the most standard alternative song on the record, some could even call it a filler, but I call it a good song. Clean and amplified guitar intro, transition riff, immediately to the verse. The chorus hits you like that skinny freshman who thinks he can fight. The cockiness is stronger than the stink of his axe body spray. After the second chorus, another clean riff with spacey effects placed in there, adding a restless feeling to the music. My only flaw with this album is its lyrics.
While some of the lyrics are somewhat poetic, sometimes they lean on outright unintelligible mumbo jumbo. I imagine the songwriting process as writing down every word you know on separate pieces of paper, putting them in glue, and throwing them at the ceiling, whatever falls gets used. Repeat the chorus one last time. The end. 2.8/5.
The final track on the album.
Spaztik.
Imagine the most nu metal song you've ever heard. Thinking of one? Well this one is more nu metal than that. It plays into the cliche of palm muted intro, DJing having the forefront, scream rapping. That's the jist of this song. The chorus is still somewhat catchy, but not very much in a good way. This song almost feels like the mandatory heavy song at the end of the album to blow off steam. The lyrics are drivel. The breakdown comes in, and you'll roll your eyes at how cheesy it is. "when I fell out the womb I was fresh without a spot" raps the white guy with blonde dreads. All in all, it's not entirely a bad song, I listen to it during random bouts of anger, which is the only time it helps. If you're pissed at something, this won't get you off like a good old Slipknot song. Screaming and a light dose of lead guitar play towards the songs exit. Then the sound of guitars being unplugged, I think.
That's not the end though.
An outro, similar to the one at the beginning of Aquarium plays. Hollow keyboard noises and percussion play it through. It's not as watery and electronic as the Aquarium intro, but we aren't entering an aquarium, we're leaving a danger zone.
At the very end, an explosion sound effect plays. How cheesy.
Aside from the bad lyricism and cheesy moments, it's an overall solid release. If only they could've stayed with Interscope, they would've been big. This is my very first review so excuse how bad it is and how much I drone on.
I give this album a 4/5.
