Review Summary: This is what happens when the shock wears off.
When Mindless Self Indulgence fans left the party that was 2005’s
You’ll Rebel To Anything, they had both everything they needed and everything they had come to expect from the New York shock rockers- buzzsaw guitar, warped synth lines, shout-sung hooks and simple but hugely danceable drum programming and breakbeats. It was undeniably great fun, and their popularity soared on the back of popular singles “Shut Me Up” and “Straight to Video”, not to mention their infamous live shows.
And now, after three years and the relentless touring that went with them, fans have been invited to another MSI party, in the form of the band’s hotly anticipated fourth album,
If. All the viral marketing over the internet, particularly the band’s ever-expanding MySpace fanbase and community, is sure to pay off in album sales, but one cannot help but wonder how long it will take fans to notice- “Hey, isn’t this almost exactly like the party we just left?”.
If starts off promisingly, with lead single “Never Wanted To Dance” packing a punk punch and giving fans another shout-along chorus to add to the collection (“I never wanted to dance with nobody but you!”). Wild frontman Little Jimmy Urine’s oddball shouts, screams and squeals are paired to damn-near-perfection with big industrial synth and Steve, Righ?’s catchy-as-hell guitar. Long time fans will also be pleased to see long-time live favourite “Revenge” finally laid down in the studio, with a unique, hard-to-pin-down sound (perhaps Trent Reznor at a rave party?) and a peculiar intro featuring a sports coach organizing her cheerleaders. Elsewhere, it’s the fast-paced, exciting and engaging numbers like “Lights Out” and “On It” that turn out to be bangers, and subsequent hits on the album. The former has bassist Lyn-Z in fine form, in addition to a strangely beguiling chorus- “Put your lights out/Hit the pavement/That’s what I call entertainment!/Causing problems/Makes you famous/All the violence/Makes a statement!”. Meanwhile, the latter has drum patterns ranging from a deceiving club beat to an industrial break, building up to a chorus that could only be described as crunk rock.
While these songs provide highlights of the record as definitive party-starters, the record falls flat in other areas. “Prescription”, a droning and predictable electro-Goth number about doctors, patients and whatever else immediately pops into your mind when one reads the track title, should have been cut completely. Other songs suffer by failing to go anywhere (“Mastermind”, “Money”), or simply having either horrible choruses (“Issues” takes the cake here- “Let’s go make out with her friends/Make out with her friends’ friends”?) or lyrics (“Pay For It” features the cringe-worthy “I don’t want you to hate me-I want you to want to hate me”).
While Steve, Righ? and Lyn-Z definitely have their moments as musicians on
If, there’s simply too much going on in every song, especially electronics-wise, for it to be noticed. Furthermore, drummer Kitty’s work on the album is, disappointingly, either too overproduced to sound like live drums or not present at all. The album’s focus, thus, is Little Jimmy Urine- and boy, does he get annoying by record’s end. One can easily appreciate his eccentricity, not to mention his diversity in vocal styles, as he touches on hip-hop, hardcore, grunge, glam, and obviously just a
little Marilyn Manson. But would it kill Urine to expand his vocal range a little? And lay off the screaming a bit, as well- it’s a little off-putting whilst you’re trying to dance,
Needless to say,
If is, once again, both everything MSI fans needed and everything they had come to expect from the band. A new generation of fans will inevitably pick this up, and it’s almost a certainty that all of the songs from the album will go down a treat live. However, it is indeed sad to see a band with such potential show signs of going down the route of bands such as AC/DC and, to a lesser extent, Pennywise- making records of more of the same with no vigour or passion, quite simply as another excuse to tour.
Perhaps it was too much to ask of the band- we obviously weren’t expecting the band to try out Swedish metal or anything here- but a little diversity, some more substance and more genuine musicianship on
If certainly would have made it a great record, as opposed to the simply “good” record that it is.
