Review Summary: The original nu metal queen
Before there was Kittie or Otep, there was Tairrie B. Murphy. She’s had a long career, first as a pop singer, then a rapper, then the singer of Manhole, later renamed Tura Satana, but she’s spent most of her time in nu metal band My Ruin. Their first album “Speak and Destroy” is a long and ambitious project, and a good example of all her songwriting quirks, wrapped in a pretty good nu metal package. So let’s speak and review.
After a spoken world prologue, we get into “Terror”, the song where Tairrie explains how tough she is, lists all her inner contradictions, and really makes her definitive statement: “I strike terror in the hearts of men”, and mostly “I am the power of a woman”. It feels more like a spoken word poetry reading, as Tairrie recites her lyrics in her deep, kind of eerie voice, occasionally screaming the chorus (honestly, such an incredible song deserves a better chorus than just screaming “***er!”) while the band messes around with bass lines and occasional riffs. The whole thing feels strange and hypnotic.
Other tracks use a similar dark recitation, but feel more like songs, like on the slow, dark mood on the verses of “Preacher”, while the chorus gets louder, full of those tormented speaking and screaming, so typical of nu metal. This song introduces another main theme of the album, the rage against religious fanaticism and oppression. “Absolution” has a similar slow and kind of unsettling approach to those themes, until the screaming, distorted chorus. “Blasphemous Girl” is one of the most obvious examples, with its furious, distorted riffs, energized and angry verses, and memorable “God wants a piece of my ass!” chorus. Tairrie really shows off her fast singing, ominous speak-singing and loud screams. For an even angrier version of “Blasphemous Girl”, we have “Diavolina” and its evil riffs and furious scream-rapping.
Another theme is pain, sometimes expressed in the dark bassline and spoken lyrics of “Close Your Eyes”, where Tairrie shows how threatening she can sound just with quiet speaking. But the most striking example would be “Horrible Pain (Within My Heart), also told like a creepy poem about how her pain, and the person who caused it, is the only durable relationship she’s had. The slight echo on her voice, the repeated loud drums, distorted basslines and sudden acceleration of the riffs, add to the song’s dark, uncomfortable feel. Nu metal is rarely described as creepy or dark, at best people will mention some specific creepy nu metal songs (usually “Daddy” or “Jonestown Tea”) but won’t really talk about how the genre itself is good for creating strange, uneasy atmospheres, with those distorted riffs and vocals going from quiet too loud, expressing some, well, horrible pain. This is something that good nu metal albums can do very well, and that My Ruin is very good at.
“Monster” is a somewhat angrier version of “Horrible Pain”, with an oddly haunting riff. But “Sick With it” is the faster and more enraged version, with constant screaming and furious riffs. The amplified screams on the last chorus are a great addition. “Bright Red Scream” uses similar vocals and the same kind of angry and fast riffs as many other tracks.
“June 10th” is the album’s only ballad, with a quieter instrumental and once again, lyrics more spoken than truly sung. This show how the album is more of a spoken word poetry collection with a sort of nu metal background than a straight up metal album, which along the repetitiveness and the fact that there are so many songs on it, may make it a little difficult to get into. But at least, it brings some over ideas, like “My Beautiful Flower” and its spooky, sort of industrial beat. Then, of course we need a cover of an 80s hit, this time Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”. This version does a pretty good job of mixing 80s synths with heavy riffs and Tairrie’s darker delivery, with some powerful screams too, and it’s pretty fun.
Finally, “Sycophant”, the last full track of the album, begins with a kind of creepy child’s voice, followed by slow, dark but angry spoken verses and energetic, screaming choruses, some of the best vocal performances on the album. Yes, this album is a little too long, and tends to use the same songwriting and vocal tics too much. Tairrie B. Murphy has a pretty long career of similar-sounding songs with similar themes. To make it worse, it’s obvious that her voice has its limits, as she tends to scream in the same range or speak in the same voice. But I happen to find her lyrics interesting, I like her voice and the music behind it mostly works, so I don’t really mind. There’s a difference between admitting that an artist has their limits, and outright disliking their music. Like I said, I think Tairrie B. Murphy is a very interesting artist and our musical landscape would probably be duller without her. This album was one of her many interesting projects. She’s kind of an obvious precursor to Otep, as they’re both feminist nu metal poets, but they have their differences. It’s a lot like the Brave vs Evanescence debate, or Coven vs Black Sabbath: of course you can like both, and if you’re into that kind of music, you should listen to both at least once.
