Review Summary: Not many bands can make something that metalheads, goths, and hipsters alike can enjoy. With the release of The Antipop, Primus has done just that.
Primus is known throughout as a very weird, unclassifiable band with the best bassist in the history of slapping and finger-picking. I’m not going to argue, because that is 100% correct. They’re one of the few bands I really think has lived up to their fullest potential, and with the amount of talent that the three band members have, that could not have been an east feat. Many people think that Primus’s magnum opus is Frizzle Fry or even Sailing the Seas of Cheese. Not without reason, of course, they are both amazing albums featuring some of Primus’s best and most well-known songs. I, however, think this is their best. Without a doubt the most overlooked album in the Primus discography, it has a darker and heavier feel to it, while still maintaining the sense of humor that fans of the band have come to know and love. If there’s one trend in all the Primus albums (besides the inhuman bass lines), it’s that all of them are just fun to listen to, and The Antipop, their most recent release, is no different.
Featuring a plethora of guest producers, such as James Hetfeild of Metallica and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, this is by far the best production job Primus has ever had on a studio album, and it might be one of the best I’ve ever heard. It sounds so clean and intense you’d think that the band is playing right in front of you. This album, while maintaining the funkiness and bounciness of past Primus releases, adds on a bit more seriousness than fans may be used to. It’s not very easy to take seriously with Les Claypool’s cartoon character vocals, but for the most part we still get the tongue-in-cheek delivery that we’re used to. They just got a little bit heavier, which is always a good thing.
They have as much groove as ever, most notably the main riff of Greet the Sacred Cow that just makes you want to jump side to side like an idiot, but you don’t care because it’s just so awesome. There are a few songs with a bit of an ominous, almost creepy feeling to them, such as Dirty Drowning Man, the title track, and the most serious song on the album, Eclectic Electric. They get a bit ridiculous with the song Ballad of Bodacious, which is sort of a funk-country-hard rock thing about a mighty bull named Bodacious, but it’s cool, because it’s a track based off pure fun. The only weak track on the album is Coattails of a Dead Man, because it does not show any of the high-points of the band. It’s like one of the weird little interludes that they like to throw in sometimes just stretched out for five minutes, with Les’s less than impressive vocals thrown in. I let it slide, though, because if they wanted this track to be taken seriously they would’ve made it an actual Primus song.
Les gives us some of the best riffs he’s ever written in The Antipop (Greet the Sacred Cow and Power Mad), but that’s about it. No mind-blowing bass solos and very few guitar solos from Larry. There’s little technicality in this album, but that doesn’t really matter to me, because it’s all fun and catchy as hell. Not to say that Les doesn’t still blow most bassists out of the water on this album, it’s just less than you would expect for a Primus album. If you want the crazy basswork, look at Lacquer Head and The Final Voyage of the Liquid Sky. While not as technically impressive as some of the other work Les has done, there is not a single bassline on this album that is mediocre in the least. It’s all catchy, bouncy and it’s all definitely Primus. The drumming on this album, like their previous release “The Brown Album”, is done by Bryan “Brain” Mantia, and while I prefer Tim “Herb” Alexander, I can’t say that Brain doesn’t get the job done just as well.
All in all, I’d consider this to be Primus’s most enjoyable album. If you want a fun listen that you’ll remember for a while, look no further. Maybe you won’t consider it a classic as I have, but you will no doubt be entertained by it, as long as you can get used to Les’s unorthodox vocals. Fans of the band will see this as the darker, funk-metal side of Primus while still sticking to their roots to create an album that everyone will enjoy. Now I know why Primus hasn’t made a new album in twelve years, I just don’t see them topping this one.
Reccomended Songs:
Greet the Sacred Cow
Dirty Drowning Man
The Antipop
