Wes Borland
Mutiny on the Starbarge


2.3
average

Review

by Simon K. STAFF
March 11th, 2023 | 16 replies


Release Date: 03/10/2023 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Am I out of touch? No, it's the fans.

Every time Wes Borland releases an extemporary project from seemingly nowhere, there’s an elephant in the room that grows at an exponential rate. At this point, there have been so many new projects, the elephant has outgrown the building and has ballooned up to the size of Godzilla. Further still, if you observe the beast, you can see it aimlessly wandering around dejectedly murmuring to itself in a tone resonate of Eeyore, ‘where the fu*k is this Black Light Burns album at?’ I don’t want to be that guy, but goddamn, it’s been a whole decade since we got anything from Borland’s greatest musical achievement. In the space of ten years, we’ve had two Big Dumb Face records, a Limp Bizkit album, three solo records and several demo dumps for both of the Eat the Day and Goatslayer projects. The quality of this material ranges from iffy, meh, to excellent, I will admit, but generally most of these recorded works reside in the ‘meh’ category. In fact, getting down to brass tacks, with the exception of Wes’ fantastic debut solo album, Crystal Machete, and Limp Bizkit’s first album in ten years, most of this other stuff goes largely forgotten about.

Yet here we are in 2023, with Borland still oblivious to the demand for a new Black Light Burns album (despite Wes himself actually teasing the fans over the years that it’s coming) and Mutiny on the Starbarge tone-deafly blindsiding the fans. This is Borland’s third attempt (or fourth if you want to include Black Light Burn’s third LP) at this pseudo-soundtrack concept and I’ll be frank; the appeal for these projects is slowly eroding with every chapter. Crystal Machete was a genuine artistic triumph that had a really unique aesthetic to it, with all of Borland’s ethereal signatures attached to it. Unfortunately for the successors, rather than making a new recipe, The Astral Hand and Mutiny on the Starbarge uses the same tried formula, only watered down. Essentially, both of Crystal Machete’s sequels feel like cordial – The Astral Hand takes the perfect concentration rate from the debut but adds more water to weaken the taste, and now Mutiny on the Starbarge takes the weakened flavour from The Astral Hand and serves up an album with barely any distinguishing flavour to it.

The results, like the sophomore album, are innocuous, there’s nothing egregious here, but it’s hard to shake the fact a lot of this feels recycled from the debut LP and ultimately becomes soporific the more you listen to it. There are moments on Mutiny on the Starbarge that capture Borland’s genius. “The Horror is Nominal” is easily the best track on here and blends Borland’s penchant for hypnotic grooves with Daft Punk, and the poignant ballad “Walking the Great Ring” seizes his imagination and manifests into a lucid vista being brought to life, but on the whole, the album is so homogenous and uses so many Wes Borland tropes shall we say, it basically sets up these tracks to fail. In fact, listening to this really puts compositional work into perspective and the adversities that come with writing scores for entertainment. Wes Borland is an irrefutably talented musician and is responsible for creating a plethora of exceptional works over the years, but even with this level of talent there are no guarantees. If nothing else, it's evident to me you have to be a special type of individual to be able to compose scores at an engaging level, and the more I hear these solo instrumental albums, the more evident it is score-esque compositional work is not in the remit of Borland’s forte.



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user ratings (8)
3.1
good


Comments:Add a Comment 
DrGonzo1937
Staff Reviewer
March 11th 2023


18465 Comments

Album Rating: 2.3

Where the fuck is this BLB album at, Wes?

Purpl3Spartan
March 11th 2023


8903 Comments


Nice review friendo, will be staying away from this. Artwork is nice though

someone
Contributing Reviewer
March 11th 2023


6927 Comments


cover is kinda exemplary of his attitude to making new music. just slap a doodle on a record and move on, fuck it.

Vercetti
March 11th 2023


844 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

This guy puts out a bazillion albums while he's also working with other people like Danny Elfman and Jonathan Davis (remember his solo album?). But his two most popular projects (LB and BLB) take an eternity to release new material. I believe he gets some kind of sadistic pleasure from toturing his fans

DrGonzo1937
Staff Reviewer
March 11th 2023


18465 Comments

Album Rating: 2.3

Nailed it vercetti.



I do know that he’s been trying to get into the score scene in Hollywood for a very long time and failed at achieving that, so I can imagine this is the next best alternative (along with playing with elfman), but come on man, know where your audience is.



And I agree, certainly with BLB — as durst plays a large portion on why bizkit didn’t get a release for so long — it appears as if he gets a kick out of leaving his most successful project in the gutter, in order to serve up average instrumental albums and esoteric demo tracks from bands no one really gives a damn about.

insomniac15
Staff Reviewer
March 11th 2023


6236 Comments


Had no idea he dropped an album, but yes, a new Black Light Burns album is sorely needed

FrozenFirebug
March 11th 2023


977 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

wes is at his peak when he segues these atmospheric sections into sick riffs, but every time he releases something under his own name, it's only atmospheric sections, and he goes out of his way to not riff



still sounds nice but why riffman no riff

Sinternet
Contributing Reviewer
March 11th 2023


26762 Comments


wait this isn't an among us concept album?

VlacDrac
March 11th 2023


2660 Comments


SUSSY

ToSmokMuzyki
March 12th 2023


12334 Comments


this album is mighty sus

ToSmokMuzyki
March 12th 2023


12334 Comments


i vote someone as the imposter for pretending not to know what this is

SomeCallMeTim
March 12th 2023


4524 Comments


Love that album art

artiswar
March 12th 2023


14696 Comments


I don't know what any of this means but I enjoyed the review as an impulse read. I love brass tacks

DrGonzo1937
Staff Reviewer
March 12th 2023


18465 Comments

Album Rating: 2.3

thanks art

kodama
March 12th 2023


189 Comments


amogus

naughtcturnal
March 13th 2023


2733 Comments


mungus



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