Customer Reviews

The Amalgamut

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was expecting THE AMALGAMUT to be more melodic than TITLE OF RECORD was, but I was given a pleasant surprise. Although some fans of Filter might find this album not to their liking, THE AMALGAMUT is a wonderful album. It's been three years since TITLE OF RECORD, and Filter showed a lot of growth with this new disc.

THE AMALGAMUT gets things cooking with "You Walk Away" and "American Cliche", two hard-charging tracks that start the album off nicely, leading into the lead single "Where Do We Go From Here". That song is one of the standouts on the album, as "Where Do We Go From Here" showcases a great blend of melody and intensity. It's a moment that makes the album stand above other releases that may seem half-hearted. THE AMALGAMUT doesn't stop there, though.

"So I Quit" and "My Long Walk to Jail" are some of the hardest tracks from Filter since "Hey Man Nice Shot" blew out our eardrums. "The Only Way (Is The Wrong Way)" has the same idea that "Take A Picture" did on TITLE OF RECORD: it's surprisingly melodic, and sort of dance-y. Also, "Columind" and "God Damn Me" are similar to "Where Do We Go From Here", as both are melodic with a blend of hard-rock thrown in for good measure.

The real surprise, though, is the completely melodic and atmospheric eight-minute-plus closing track, "The 4th". With mumbles from time to time surfacing on certain points during "The 4th", this track closes the album on a rather light note, but no less intense. It may be disappointing to many fans, but you'll come to appreciate it in time...if you do.

THE AMALGAMUT showcases a great blend of heavy tunes and charging melodies from Filter. They really changed after TITLE OF RECORD, a record which balanced with more melodic rock than heavy tunes. Yet however, TITLE led to AMALGAMUT's absolutely pure melodies, and this is no disappointment. Make no mistake, Filter are back...and their new disc THE AMALGAMUT is total proof that they've got a great knack to make some good rock. Cheers!

...but somewhere along the way he learned to sing as well. Good on him! Patrick's voice has never sounded better, or the band more cohesive. Still, there are two sides to The Amalgamut. One is pop-station friendly, the other certainly is NOT.
"God Damn Me" is a joy to listen to. Right now it is my favorite song on the record. Bittersweet vocals float over an acoustic guitar and drums during the verse, blending into gorgeous harmony during the chorus. People will invariably compare it to "Take A Picture", but this is better.
"Columined" is the other side of this album, a distorted, throat-scraping soundoff on the events at Columbine. I wonder how the man has a voice left at all!
Some of the songs seem destined for radio airplay, like the already-released "Where Do We Go From Here". That and "The Only Way (Is The Wrong Way)" are both similar to "Take A Picture" in that they are pleasant to listen to and insidiously singable (meaning you'll probably hear even tone-deaf people singing them as you cringe in horror).
Harder, more adventurous stations might take on "My Long Walk To Jail" or "You Walk Away" which feature crunchier guitars, harder drums, and the trademark skullsplitting vocals. Time will tell.
Only the last two tracks seem out of place. "World Today" is wierd and disturbing, like a child in an insane asylum. "I like the world today, I like the world today, I like the world today, when it's green...And sometimes it's mean, and sometimes it's mean, and sometimes it's mean as can be". "The 4th" is companion to "World Today", which is pure aural experimentation. The song (I use that term loosely) is hypnotic and oddly calming but disconserting, as though the musical rollercoaster's track suddenly left the park, and headed out into the desert.
The jumble of styles and sounds on this album is a challenge sometimes, but it is always interesting and ultimately rewarding to follow a band as it grows more skilled and confident. This is Filter's finest effort so far, and I can only hope the next one comes soon.

Filter's 3rd album, The Amalgamut is by far the best album they've had. It's so different and diverse that each song has a meaning to it. As you can tell from their title of the track, like Columind, American Cliche, You Walk Away, and their first single Where Do We Go From Here. Geno Lenardo has well improved his guitar playing and the riffs are mad as hell. It's never been better than ever. Frank Cavanagh seems to be the shag of the band since the Title of Record era. From bald to long hair, he keeps the band up to their feet. Steve Gills drums seems to be my favorite. He has played so well that each record he plays on, I just love the sound. But Richard Patrick's voice has by far been better than ever. With lots of melody and screaming, it just give me chills to hear Patrick sing or scream. From a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, I rate this cd a 10 just because it's one of the best CD's of 2002 and Filter is still rockin it.

I have been a Filter fan for awhile. Their band's success is, I believe, derived from the same forces that made Black Sabbath and Ozzy popular. They have never been MTV friendly, but their CDs continue to sell like hotcakes. Short Bus was awesome and Title of Record was incredible. The Amalgamut shows that Filter is remaining strong and that they are going to be around for quite awhile longer.

The only reason I gave this album four stars is that there are a couple songs on it that I don't get. The songs sounded like Richard Patrick wrote them when he was extremely mad or just wrote them to sound mad on purpose. In one part he even sounds like he's trying to sound like DMX or Cypress Hill or something. It's brief but he gets mad and says "You want some of this mother ****er? I'll kick your..." Yeah, the rest is easy to figure out. It was lines like that and other really weird unnecessary lines that made this album less than it could have been capable of.

Overall though, this album reflected the growth of this band, especially Richard Patrick, the lyricist and lead singer. Title of Record's songs seemed to deal with only himself and his internal conflicts, whether they were relationships he failed at (It's Gonna Kill Me) or his venting at his parents (Take A Picture) I mean, they were good songs, but The Amalgamut just seemed way more developed and intelligent because of the universal themes to the world. Filter is a great band with an untouchable, absolutely untouchable sound, and they don't play games (for the most part.) They are solid, heavy, melodic, and powerful. They are going to be around for awhile.

truly really honestly, I do. filter is my absolute favorite band. I can't say it's because I love ALL their music, cause I don't, but the single songs I DO love, I love to tiny little crazy broken pieces!!! I've been a fan since... about a year ago. I had been hearing "take a picture", "hey man nice shot", "trip like I do", and "where do we go from here" on the radio for ages... I had just never heard the name "filter" before. which is odd, if you think about it. anyways, bought "title of record" first, in the throes of a mighty "take a picture" obsession, as I'm sure at least SOME of you out there have experienced... but then picked up "the amalgamut" after going through something similar with "where do we go" and d'you know what?? it's good. it is really, REALLY good. as far as sound goes, I've gotta say, it's the best filter work by far. richie's... *cough* I mean... richard patrick's voice has improved immensely since the days of "short bus". not to say "short bus" is bad, it's just... not as pretty-sounding. well, I still can't honestly say I love filter for the lyrics, but if you take the time to sort them out, I'm sure there's some meaning in there... I'm just too lazy to find it myself. "you walk away", the opening track, has a good hard rock sound, not to mention the coolest techno-y interlude thingy I've EVER heard. "american cliche" is equally rock-y, but borderlining annoying. "where do we go from here" is probably the best dark/sick song ever created... totally rocks my socks. "columind" is a teriffically crunchy piece of metal, but I'm just not seeing what's so great about "the missing"... maybe I just hate ballad-y things... I'm not sure that's even a ballad, but oh well. "the only way (is the wrong way)" is WITHOUT A DOUBT MY ABSOLUTE MOST FAVORITE SONG BY ANYONE EVER. yes, even more than jimmy eat world. it's just so... sunshiney. and cool. v. blue and yellow. hehe. it's nice 'n spunky, a little screamy, and just rockin' enough to fit in with the rest of this album. TOTALLY love it. um... I'm tired, and I wanna go to bed now, and the only other song on this album worth talking about is "god damn me"... just gorgeous. truly. it's tear-your-heart-out sad, with a "lying on your back in the rain, crying" kind of feel to it... it's so pretty. well, go out, buy the album, enjoy track 6 as much as I have, and it will be worth every penny. goodnight, ladies and gents!

-Miss Blue

I Love this album "The Amalgamut" with such my favorite songs american cliche and it will never be the same those are my two favorites by them but the whole album is very good i recomend you should by this

After more than three years after their last album, Title of Record, Filter are back with the surprisingly low-key release of their new record, The Amalgamut. The new disc is a compromise between the heavy rock anthems that comprised most of Filter's debut album, Short Bus and mellow acoustic songs following the success of their 1999 smash Take A Picture. The record's first track is the powerfully metallic You Walk Away, reminiscent of the band's previous single, Welcome to the Fold. Although agressive songs like My Long Walk to Jail and the almost humorously profane So I Quit cover a sizeable portion of Amalgamut's fifty-seven minute running time, soft and melodic songs such as The Missing, and The Only Way offer sanctuary from tracks of the more ear-shredding variety. Long time fans of Filter can rest assured that the group hasn't changed their sound at all with their latest release: only refined it into the fine tuned work of art that is The Amalgamut.

This album shows how diverse Filter can be. Rather than boxing themselves into one theme, genre or sound, Filter would rather twist you around until you're well rounded. The first two songs take the listener straight into the album, assaulting the ears with Filter's harder edge, almost as a reminder that Filter is around and kicking. "Where Do We Go From Here" takes the listener back to the emotionaly softer side of Title just as a breather from a heavy moment. Filter takes out the stops again, changing emotions, sounds and styles on the listener with "Columind." Taking the listener on another twist is "The Missing" and "The Only Way Is The Wrong Way" with their softer sounds, more emotional feeling and softer style. "My Long Walk to Jail" and "So I Quit" jolt the listener back into reality, reminding them that yes, Filter still knows how to rock and rock out hard. While the latter is more crude sounding at first, it is not all that it seems. A song about primal anger, it is what it is to cause people to get in tune with that side of themselves WITHOUT hurting someone else. "God Damn Me," a beautiful song brings the album back down, its dreamy lyrics and landscape of sound causing the listener to let go of the adrenaline of the previous track. Although one more harder track is tossed in before the final two softer tracks, it is another bump in the roller coaster that is The Amalgamut. The diversity of the album does not cause strain to the listener, but rather proves how Filter can grow from their previous album and in the future. An album for all music fans who care about true musicial skill.

When Filter's smash acoustic single "Take a Picture" hit the airwaves in late 1999, I was very impressed, but for one reason or another didn't buy their album. Recently, I heard that song on the radio and decided I should finally pick up TITLE OF RECORD, and I was blown away by the atmospheric and soaring melodies. It quickly became one of my favorite albums, so as you can imagine, I was more than a little disappointed to find out that THE AMALGAMUT is at best simply a weaker re-hash of their previous work.

To be clear, this isn't a god-awful record that will have you pushing the eject button after two songs; rather, it is such a letdown from the last album that it nearly negates the fact that there are plenty of catchy songs to be found here. The opening track, "You Walk Away," is nothing too impressive or original, but it's sure fun to bang your head to; the same can be said of "American Cliche," except that its lyrics are bad to the point of being distracting. "Where Do We Go from Here" is perhaps the star of the album and was the main single, and for good reason... it's melodic, dynamic, and catchy. At this point I'll just say that the only other tracks I really enjoy are "The Missing," "The Only Way is the Wrong Way," and "God Damn Me." Sadly, all three of those tracks, despite their good atmosphere, are almost identical to certain songs on TITLE OF RECORD. I should also mention "It Can Never Be the Same," which is halfway decent and isn't too derivative.

Now for the bad stuff. "My Long Walk to Jail" is fairly pointless, featuring and overly simplistic riff and lots of screaming. "Columind" and "So I Quit" are even more pointless and contain even more screaming; the former features shallow lyrics lashing out against violence in schools but ignoring the cause, while the latter is a laughable string of profanity that goes nowhere. Finally, the final two tracks, "World Today" and "The 4th," are painfully long and unsatisfying. If Filter thought they could entertain us with 15 minutes of Eastern-type music and pseudo-philosophical lyrics, they should think again and leave that kind of thing to Tool and Radiohead.

All in all, THE AMALGAMUT isn't a bad album to rock out to every once in a while, but you'll probably be skipping a few too many tracks to make it worth your money. What really does it in is that almost every shining moment it has, with the exception of the fabulous "Where Do We Go from Here," is marred by the fact that you just know you heard that exact riff/melody/etc. on the band's previous album. My advice to general hard rock listeners would be to leave this album for the band's diehard fans while the rest of us enjoy TITLE OF RECORD.

2.6 stars

"Only the last two tracks seem out of place. "World Today" is weird and disturbing, like a child in an insane asylum. "I like the world today, I like the world today, I like the world today, when it's green...And sometimes it's mean, and sometimes it's mean, and sometimes it's mean as can be". Richard Patrick can still scare the pants off a banshee...,



You have no idea what that song, "World Today", means to me.

During my year in Afghani-land it was my `prayer' song when our own blood was lost.

Filter, this CD, amongst so many, helped me keep my sanity.


"But sometimes it's mean as hell; helluva price to pay".

That would be a fact