Metal Meltdowns: Megadeth, "Risk"

The only reason that I still own a copy of Megadeth’s Risk is because when I took it to the local used CD shop about a week or so after I it came out, the owner already had five in the bin and wouldn’t accept my trade. That story just about sums up the initial reaction to Dave Mustaine’s 1999 effort, in which he perhaps handed too much control to producer Dann Huff, and delivered the band’s least metal album to date.

Megadeth’s trajectory in the 1990s was toward the more commercial. It began with Countdown to Extinction in 1992, which in some ways echoed Metallica’s self-titled album of the year before. It was still heavy, but the song structures were simplified and more melodic. Youthanasia in 1994 went even further toward mainstream rock. Cryptic Writings, which I consider one of the band’s most underrated records, struck a better balance between fast, heavy numbers and the more rock-oriented pieces.

Review: Rob Zombie, "The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser"

Once upon a time, I thought Rob Zombie was something of a metal genius. The last two White Zombie records and his first solo album, Hellbilly Deluxe, were all landmark records of the 1990s as far as I’m concerned. (We’ll forget about all of the dance remix records.) They were weird and quirky, pushed the boundaries at times, but were still undeniably metal.

Then, he decided he wanted to make movies, and music seemed to become a side job. The Sinister Urge, his follow-up to Hellbilly Deluxe, while not a bad record, was far too brief with a lot of filler. Since then, he’s released really good songs here and there, but his albums as a whole haven’t really interested me.

So, I was a bit surprised when I gave my first listen to his latest mouthful of an album, The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser.

Metal Meltdowns: Danzig, "blackacidevil"

Most any band that’s been around for a while has at least one of those albums where fans listen and wonder, “what the heck were they thinking?” In this series, I’ll explore some of those moments where my favorite metal and hard rock bands went off the rails. Some of the records I may hate, some I may like, but all represent a fundamental shift in the band’s sound, at least for a moment. I’ll start with a record that’s one of the more dramatic changes of direction in my memory, Danzig’s blackacidevil …

After coming out of punk band the Misfits and the experimental horror outfit Samhain, Glenn Danzig established his own name and unique sound under the tutelage of Rick Rubin. For the better part of four albums, he delivered a dark, powerful, doomy brand of metal underpinned by blues rock. Even though he experimented a little bit on his fourth record under the Danzig moniker, nothing prepared fans for what was to come with his fifth outing in 1996.

Review: Marilyn Manson, "The Pale Emperor"

When Marilyn Manson’s latest, The Pale Emperor, hit shelves earlier this year, I dismissed it, as I have the many mediocre Manson records since Mechanical Animals. In fact, I even wrote a review of Mechanical Animals the week it was released instead.

Much to my surprise, though, The Pale Emperor has become one of my favorite records of 2015. Granted, this has been kind of a meh musical year for me, but this record would be a contender in any year.

The Pale Emperor features something that I’ve not heard from Manson in a while, and that’s the willingness to push himself and evolve a little. It’s an interesting blend of the Bowie-esque sounds of Mechanical Animals with some things that we haven’t heard from the shock rocker before, and while Marilyn Manson seemed to get lost a little after his third record, this one feels more like a natural progression from it than anything since.

Still Spinning: Marilyn Manson, "Mechanical Animals"

Yes, I know Manson has a new record out, and I plan to get to it eventually. But this one, for some reason, has been popping up in my shuffle a lot lately, and I’ve come to appreciate again how good it was.

I remember seeing one of those clickbait articles online at some point last year discussing rock albums with only one good song, and Mechanical Animals was on that list. The writer’s contention was that “The Dope Show” was the only good song on this record. I remember at the time thinking the guy didn’t know what he was talking about, and after revisiting this record, I’m sure of it. If anything, “Dope Show” is one of the weakest songs.

You can say a lot of things about Marilyn Manson and the direction that his career has taken. Strings of mediocre albums have made him a caricature of himself, but those first three records cannot be denied. Each of those showed a developing and evolving persona for Manson. His debut, Portrait of an American Family, was solely about shock. With Antichrist Superstar, he honed the edge on that shock with rage and vitriol — producing, arguably, the last rock ‘n’ roll record to truly scare the shit out of parents. And that’s what made the transformation on Mechanical Animals so bizarre and wonderful.

Review: Nine Inch Nails, "Hesitation Marks"

As a teenage metal head, I was convinced that all things electronic in music were evil. Then, a roommate in college introduced me to Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine. Much to my embarrassment, I found myself cruising around with tunes like “Terrible Lie” and “Head Like a Hole” blaring out of my speakers. I’d never thought that drum machines and electronics could convey as much emotion as I found on that record. 

When Trent Reznor cranked up the guitars on the Broken EP, my personal favorite, I became an even bigger fan. I had mixed feelings about 1992’s The Downward Spiral, though, and though I always check out his new stuff, not much that Reznor has done since has grabbed me.

Still Spinning: Shotgun Messiah, "Violent New Breed"

In 1993, I had little to no interest in Shotgun Messiah.

I considered them one of the also-rans of the late 1980s glam metal scene. Their previous two albums hadn’t connected with me, and they were part of the great same-looking, same-sounding mass that I considered responsible for the downfall of the 1980s hard rock scene.

Then I heard the title track from this album, and I immediately sat up and paid attention. “Violent New Breed” was definitely apropos for the sound of this record. The song opened with a thumping industrial drum beat and exploded into a guitar riff heavier than anything that had been heard on any previous Shotgun Messiah album. Singer Tim Skold traded in his glam style for a distorted, attitude-laden snarl, and then there was that huge, powerful chorus. It just makes me want to raise a fist in defiance, and 20 years later, I can still not listen to this song at anything less than the maximum possible volume.

Saturday Shuffle: Jamey Johnson, Guns 'n' Roses, Tesla, Nine Inch Nails, Soilwork

Quite a variety this week, from country to industrial to melodic death.

Jamey Johnson feat. Lee Ann Womack, “This Ain’t My First Rodeo.” From the album Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran (2012). One of the best current country songwriters Jamey Johnson singing songs of one of country’s most prolific songwriters. How could you go wrong? The songs on the album, including this one, are very faithful to the originals and usually pretty good.

Review: Prong, "Carved Into Stone"

I was less than impressed with Prong’s last outing, Power of the Damager. I preferred it to the more industrial stuff they’d been doing, but it hasn’t returned to my rotation in the nearly five years since it came out. I thought it was OK, but didn’t have a lot of passion or energy.

So I approached the new record, Carved into Stone, with only moderate interest. Tommy Victor and Co. fixed my lack of interest with the first track “Eternal Heat,” which blasts out of the gate with a squealing, energetic guitar riff and pummels the listener over the head for about four minutes. The message at the end of the song is clear – the energy and fire are most definitely back.

Review: Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters, "Bikers Welcome Ladies Drink Free"

Ever ask yourself what Al Jourgensen, main man of industrial metal pioneers Ministry, would sound like if he decided to go country? Yeah, me either.

Sadly, Jourgensen has decided to answer that question for us with his side project Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters, which also includes Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Tony Campos (Static-X) and Mke Scaccia (Ministry/Rigor Mortis).

You can tell by the band name that Bikers Welcome Ladies Drink Free, out on AFM Records, isn’t exactly a serious country project. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work as humor and ends up sounding more like the joke band playing in the corner of a dimly lit dive bar in a Rob Zombie horror flick. Granted, that could have been interesting if done right. This isn’t.

Review: Fear Factory, "Mechanize"

Fear Factory’s latest record, “Mechanize,” shouldn’t be a hard sell for fans of the band’s groundbreaking first two records “Soul of a New Machine” and “Demanufacture,” but it might. After all, following those records, the band spiraled into an ever more commercial sound that culminated in a hit single for their fairly faithful cover of Gary Numan’s new-wave hit “Cars.” The band returned briefly to something similar to their early work with 2004’s “Archetype,” but quickly destroyed any goodwill built by that album with the lackluster “Transgressions” only a year later.

Review: Prong - "Power of the Damager"

The latest release from Prong is in some ways refreshing. They’ve dropped most of the industrial, mechanical influence they adopted on Cleansing and have gone for a return to the sound of Beg to Differ or Prove You Wrong. In other ways it’s disappointing – mainly that it’s not as interesting as any of those records.

If there’s one thing that Tommy Victor has always been able to produce, it’s big, heavy riffs. Power of the Damager has those in abundance, but once you get beyond those riffs, there’s really not much left. When you hear the big riff of a song like “Looking for Them” or “No Justice,” which open the record, it’s hard to dislike it. Once the song is over, though, it’s difficult to remember much about it. Certainly, there aren’t any really infectious hooks like “Prove You Wrong” or “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” to be found here. The songwriting is lacking and leaves some really good riffs trying to fight through a muddle of mediocrity to be heard.

Though Victor’s vocals range from melodic, hard rock-style offerings to hardcore shouts, they’re basically the equivalent of musical wallpaper. I never get that gut-punch feeling from his delivery and never really get the feeling that he believes in what he’s singing. To be fair, that’s often been a problem I’ve had with Prong in the past.

There are some interesting moments here and there. “The Banishment” reminds me a lot of “Prove You Wrong” and delivers one of the better riffs on the record and an almost funky verse melody that hangs around longer than most here, but it’s hardly a sticks-in-your-head moment. The clean guitar backed by big distorted notes at the beginning of “Spirit Guide” is nice, but the rest of the song just blends into the background.

I guess that’s what could be said of most of the album. It’s not awful, but it just blends into the background. Hardcore fans of the band may or may not laud this as a comeback record, but I just don’t find anything exciting or invigorating about it at all. The casual fan will be better served by digging out a copy of Beg to Differ.

Get "Power of the Damager."

Review: Fear Factory, "Transgression"

With 2004's Archetype Fear Factory surprised fans with a return to the vicious cyber metal of their first two albums, Soul of a New Machine and Demanufacture. A year and a half later, they’re back to the mediocre music of their middle albums.

For a frustrated 20-year-old kid angry at the fact that his favorite bands seemed to be going soft, Fear Factory’s Soul of a New Machine was a swift kick in the pants. It had the intensity of the old-school thrash I craved mixed with clanking industrial noises, just a touch of death metal and these cool melodic passages that seemed to be out of place, yet at the same time perfectly suited for the sound. The follow-up, Demanufacture, was just as good. But then, they started doing techno remixes of their albums. That was the first clue this band was over. The next was the uninspired third album Obsolete. After that Fear Factory quickly fell of my radar. I was vaguely aware that they were still out there and having some internal strife, but every time I heard something by them, I found it fairly boring.

Then came Archetype, and the return of the familiar sound I remembered from those two early albums. It was perhaps a bit more melodic, but I had high hopes for a return to glory. Until now.

Transgression features the trademark mechanical-sounding drum lines and guitar riffing that Fear Factory’s known for, and the heavier parts of songs like “540,000 Degrees Fahrenheit” and the title track are as tight as anything the band has ever done. But here, those trademark sounds are perhaps a bit too mechanical. At times they sound almost as if someone took all of Fear Factory’s previous albums, plugged them into a computer and told it to spit out something that sounded similar. The riffs are solid, but there’s no real passion, anger or any emotion at all. None of the songs are particularly memorable. The alternating melodic and gruff vocals from Burton Bell are still there, but he doesn’t use them as effectively. The entire album seems devoid of the melodic hooks that have marked the band’s best work.

The lightweight turn toward the middle of the album doesn’t help. The lethargic “Echo of My Scream” is enough to put the listener to sleep for a few songs, and the upbeat, Southern California pop-punk sound of “I Will Follow” wakes you with a jolt and an urge to puke. Really, the only song on the album that sticks with me is “Millennium,” which has a nice old-school thrash feel on the verse. Even it’s not really something that I’d listen to for long, though.

I had a lot of hope for this album, but I come away from it disappointed once again. The band and label have been comparing the album to Obsolete, and I’d have to agree with that comparison. I felt the same way about that album. It sounds like Fear Factory, only boring and uninspired. The real Transgression here is against the fans that bought into the comeback.

Get "Transgression."