Customer Reviews

Force Fed

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

 

 

Most of the people who know of Prong found out about them in 1990 and beyond. 1990 was when they signed with a major label and released the album Beg to Differ. They made a video or two which got their fair share of play on MTV Headbangers Ball, they got played on radio stations like KNAC, and they became known to metal heads world wide. What these metal heads didn't know was that Prong had been around since 1985, and they weren't always a metal band.

During the 80s, Prong was more of a hardcore band. They were part of the NYC CBGBs scene, but they didn't get the notoriety or respect that bands like Agnostic Front or the Cro-Mags got. I suppose main reason for this was that Prong wasn't your average garden variety hardcore band; they were weird. They were into Noise/Industrial. In fact, drummer Ted Parsons' previous band was the Swans. Prong's first record, Primitive Origins, took a pretty straight ahead approach and didn't really delve beyond the usual hardcore/thrash trappings. But on Force Fed, you can clearly hear them experimenting on songs like The Coliseum and It's Been Decided. Most of the rest of the songs are metallic hardcore. Anyway, it was pretty shocking a few years later when they suddenly shifted gears and became Metallica Jr. (For the record, I thought Beg to Differ was a great album.)

To write Force Fed off as a "punk album" is a terrible injustice. I bought this album when it first came out in 1987. I was on my way to college at the time and was just gettin' in to Metallica, Megadeth, COC among others. This album blew me away. Stylistically it's typical of the speed metal of the day, but much more substantial and what I like to call "crunchy". I wore this tape out, and now I'm going to buy the CD. Yes, it's not like the rest of the Prong albums. It's raw, in the way the Kill 'em All is raw. That's what makes these albums great. I'll take a young and hungry Prong or Metallica for that matter, over an old, overindulgent and self-important . . . You get my point. Anyway, check this one out. It's definitely ol' skoo', but then that's the charm.

I too bought the tape when it came out in '87 after reading a review in a local skate 'zine. I wouldn't call it punk, but it doesn't matter what you call it. It rocks. The melodies and riffs have stuck in my mind after 13 years, and I haven't even listened to much of it for the past ten years. Great, memorable songs and rhythms. I don't like their later stuff much, but I love this album.

In my own opinion, 'Force Fed' was, and still is, the perfect balance, between melody and energy/fury, we can find in an 'hardcore album'. Issued in the late eighties, this album contains many 'hits' of the genre ('forgery', 'the taming', 'bought and sold', the amazing 'look up at the sun' and many more...). What a pity it didn't encounteer a largest audience... After all these years, I consider 'Force Fed' beeing an essential both of Prong and the hardcore scene.

I too bought the tape when it came out in '87 after reading a review in a local skate 'zine. I wouldn't call it punk, but it doesn't matter what you call it. It rocks. The melodies and riffs have stuck in my mind after 13 years, and I haven't even listened to much of it for the past ten years. Great, memorable songs and rhythms. I don't like their later stuff much, but I love this album.

Do not be confused by the release date of this CD ... this is NOT a new Prong CD. It is an old Prong release from the late 80's, back when they were more or less a punk band. It sounds nothing like the last few Prong CDs, which are more in an industrial/metal vein. If you like punk you might like this, but metal fans should look elsewhere (i.e. Cleansing or Rude Awakening).