Customer Reviews

Crooked Timber

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the follow up to One Cure Fits All released back in 2006. In the 3 years between studio albums, Therapy? has released the live albums Webgig and Music from a Cheap Transistor:The BBC Session, and now put forth this new work, and it is worth the wait. This album is almost a concept album built around the Quote by Immanuel Kant, "From the crooked timber of humanity, no strait thing was ever made." As to be expected from Therapy?, this album is much about the despair of day to day life, internal thoughts and struggles, and random impulsive thoughts that occur in the human mind. This album focuses a lot on rhythm with the Bass and Percussion to the fore front on many of the tracks. The album flows with an overall dark overtone. My favorite tracks are "Enjoy the Struggle", "Crooked Timber", and the instrumental "Magic Mountain". I am happy I chose to get this imported as soon as I could. Definitely worth the effort and cost. I hope you find the album enjoyable also.

Irish punk/metallers Therapy? return with an energized vengeance after a three year absence. Bassist Michael McKeegan and drummer Neil Cooper create dense, chaotic sludgefests that counterpoint Andy Cairn's reflective lyrics and voice. His guitar takes a backseat this time, but shines in the supporting role. Themes include embracing the stark nature of mortality and individuality, but the overall tone isn't so much dark as eerie and intriguing.

After twenty years together, the band has never sounded better. Stand out tracks include: "Exiles," "Crooked Timber" and the wonderfully weird "The Head that Tried to Strangle Itself," where the boys seem to be channeling Peter Gabriel as backed by Slayer. Highly recommended for those that like their rock served with equal doses of heart and wit.

I've been a huge Therapy? fan since 1993 and Troublegum. And I think like most Therapy? fans, I'm always anxiously awaiting their newest album to sound more like Troublegum, and to not sound like Suicide Pact: You First. (SPYF has grown on me in years and I actually quite like it now.) This album does not have that Troublegum sound but it is incredible and worth every penny nonetheless. I think maybe the reason for wanting that sound is because, simply, they're just so good at it; the faster tempos and melodic hooks have "oomph" to it, but they do like to wander off the beaten path now and then. The album sound is similar to One Cure Fits All. However it seems like with OCFA they were looking for a certain sound, and with this one they found it. The molasses-thick bass and the de-tuned guitars give just about their heaviest sound yet, and that's where the "oomph" for this album lies. Also, Andy's lyrics are good as always. Now I just really wish they would tour America!!

Every so often Therapy enjoy diving down the rabbit hole & doing something 'different.' Suicide Pact was a good example of this tangent wrangling. When Andy and Co. don't feel like beating the melodic alt-metal drum (as they've done for 2 or 3 albums now) they seem to feel the need to go off the reservation and do something a little bit... quirky? Well, i was afraid we were due for one of these excursions & now it's here. This quote i yanked straight off of the T website:

"Crooked Timber focuses more on rhythm, rather than melody. While it is a heavy recording, it's not exactly the obvious path for us."

Now right off the bat the 1st sentence should run up a red flag, while the second should have us all as frightened as passengers on a French airline leaving Brazil. When any band decides to turn distinctly inward, there is a large proclivity for a fair amount of unbecoming self-indulgent histrionics that only the songwriter could love. The trademark Therapy back-beat is intact here, but the 'melody' (a term i shall use loosely) remains aimless at best. Some of it is slightly off-kilter in a pseudo-endearing way, but then again some of the time changes are just straight up irritating. And i swear i heard Jerry Cantell's riff from Man In The Box in there at least once. At its most-mediocre, it's self-indulgent soul searching, while at its worst it ends up in some weird post-grunge Tool-esque rut that is quite perplexing.

Even I understood that the last 2 records (NANE & OCFA) were both buzzingly strident and uncomfortably similar. So now we disappear into the depths of Kant quotes & awkward time changes in an attempt to be moody & deep instead of buzzy and metal. This is fine, i'll wait here until catchy songs come back around, as they always do. I'm not saying this record is unlistenable, it's just kinda disappointing. BUT disappointing Therapy sure beats status-quo most other things.