Hollywood Undead seems to be a little behind its time in many aspects. For one, the guys wear a series of masks that look like something
Slipknot would create on an "off" day, spend half of the tracks rapping in the "snotty white boy" style along the lines of
Limp Bizkit, and the other half crooning half-baked
Linkin Park-style angst rock. This doesn't particularly make sense. What the band is apparently trying to tell us is that they are "hardcore", but they have a sensitive side. They come off convincing as neither. What the band really comes across is the kind of high-level poseur who would produce two different forms of commercial music in a vain attempt to appeal to the masses in what is arguably the most pathetic act committed in hip hop since
Soulja Boy -- which would perhaps prove
Nas right when he stated that hip hop was dead.
Hollywood Undead is as embarrassing as Soulja Boy, if only in terms of lyrical quality, particularly in such gems as:
*** those haters I see
Cause I hate that you breathe
Everywhere I go
Bitches always know
That Charlie Scene has got
A weenie that he loves to show
Ladies show me your
Treats like its Halloween
You got a fake I.D. and you're 17
I'm a complete catastrophe
Buzzing around you like a bumble bee
Let's take some shots
Do a beer run and flip off a cop
Girls give me props and there on my jock
Paris Hilton said, 'That's hot'
When she saw my cock! That's hot
And, perhaps most cringe-inducing:
My clothes are always retro
Sexual like I'm hetero
And I play a bitch like Nintendo
In between the singing and rapping, there is also quite a lot of hard-rock screaming and bad nu-metal. One listen to "Undead", and you can tell how behind-the-times Hollywood Undead are. That combination of metal guitars, rapped vocals and screaming might have sounded fresh back in 1998, but while such a fusion could be entertaining if done well, Hollywood Undead sound like they're intentionally trying to play down to a specific audience.
Who is the intended audience here? Does no one care because most people only buy the singles? Does anyone listen to this band's music at all? The rappers -- Charlie Scene, Johnny 3 Tears, J-Dog, Funny Man, Da Kurlzz, and Tha Producer curse not like fratboys, but more along the lines of a child that has just learned all of the curse words in the entirety of Hollywood Undead's
Swan Songs. Furthermore, the overuse of the word "faggot" is troubling.
Swan Songs is an extremely poor effort. I cannot recommend this to any form of listeners. It is extremely poor in both lyrical and musical terms, and it is not enjoyable. Avoid at all costs.
