Review Summary: Limp Bizkit have released a new album. No, seriously.
It's inevitable for any band to improve over the years, even a much-loathed band like Limp Bizkit. Thing is, though, they were never that horrific - their first album,
Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$ was a little derivative, but it was honest and raw. Then they made a series of albums mostly lacking in the creativity area, before returning with what had been the best album they had ever produced,
The Unquestionable Truth, which returned to the rawness of their debut.
Gold Cobra is vastly superior to that album.
This is a record that combines all the lessons learned over the years for a well-rounded effect. It's not a flawless album by any means. It's Limp Bizkit, after all. There
is credence to the popular opinion that they are a band that, well, sucks. It's mostly attributable to Fred Durst. Wes Borland has serious chops as a guitarist, John Otto and Sam Rivers provide a good rhythm section, and Lethal's (the beatmaster behind much of
House of Pain's discography) sound design and DJing is more credible than most "rock DJs".
Whereas, Fred Durst has written some of the worst lyrics in modern rock, but even though he makes people want to punch him in the face, he's not that bad on this album. He's definitely honed his skills as a vocalist. As a lyricist, not so much. Even though the lyrics here are miles away from
Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, it's not exactly lyrical gold. The good news here, is that it's intentional this time around, and he's not trying to troll his audience, like he did on
Chocolate Starfish and most of
Results May Vary.
It's clear, though, that Borland has taken the reigns as leader of the band, because they've been around long enough to realize that Wes is the band's creative force. That lyrical quality I've mentioned is the band trying to showcase the musicians' skills rather than the lyricist's. So, instead of coming across like a bad rap album,
Gold Cobra has a quality similar to '70s hard rock bands - with the music taking precedence over lyrical content. Thankfully, there's nothing lyrically horrid enough to take the listener out of the music, even though the lyrics aren't that great, either.
Musically, the band has put together a collage of different things they did right off their previous albums and move forward in areas. The best moments are when the band is in full-on rock mode. The ballad-esque "Walking Away" is the best song Limp Bizkit ever recorded. Borland's guitar work drives the album: he provides the most creative and original riffs, licks and chords of the entire nu-metal genre, hands down. His guitar work on this album is fire, especially the "Shotgun" solo. Yes, there is a guitar solo on a Limp Bizkit album. And it's great.
Those of you who are nostalgic for the late-90s nu-metal style will find solace in "Gold Cobra" and "Why Try", which would fit right in with the band's better early material, although Wes' guitar playing on these cuts (especially "Why Try") is more advanced than any nu-metal past or present. This album even beats Korn from a musical perspective. There are also parts reminiscent musically of the band's
Unquestionable Truth, style, particularly "90.2.10", which could have been an outtake from that album. Putting aside the
musical creativity, the lyrics are extremely stupid. There are some charming
Beastie Boys-esque moments, like "I don't like limos, 'cause I get car sick", but there are also cringe-inducing moments, like "walk with the limp, it's the pirate pimp". For the most part, the band seems to be keeping Durst in check, and this
is an album meant to showcase the music, so the lyrics and vocalist are secondary in nature here.
The band's definitely improved over the years. The weakest points on the album, though, are the intro and the interludes. The intro is pointless and the interludes break up the album and take away from the songs; neither the "introbra", nor the 'ludes are really needed at all, with the exception of the "Autotunage" intro, which sets up why the song exists: the band was fucking around in the studio and decided to do an autotune song as a joke. The skit preceding the song even has Durst singing a little bit of "Nookie" in autotune. It's hilarious.
Intentionally. The humorous elements show the band being self-aware, instead of being bad enough to the point where the band could be seen as unintentional parody, or when they out-and-out trolled their audience. This seems like an actual stealth parody, the kind this band hasn't been involved with in a long time.
As a set, though, this is definitely the band's best-constructed album. As absurd as it may be to say so in 2011, the new Limp Bizkit album is worth listening to. Currently streaming on Zune.
