Customer Reviews

Last Rights

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to get to the point and tell all SP fans who don't have Last Rights, head out and get this magnificent cd. It is, arguably, their best from beginning to end. The band hold no punches whatsoever in this round. Much can be said about the cd's extreme darkness and the like. However, I'm just going to say that it isn't just really dark, it really rocks. It is probably their loudest cd to boot.

Nivek, Cevin, and Dwayne, have never been tighter in their respected positions in the band. All the instruments, voices, lyrics, hit their pinnacle here. They manage to come up with well-formed, adrenaline-noise (Knowhere, Scrapyard) and well-focused, emotional torment (Mirror Saw, Inquisition) for starters. Download is just one great demonic tape loop that has to be heard to be believed.

They really kick ass in tracks like Love In Vein, Riverz End, and Circustance. These are among my favorites from the band's entire catalogue. Plenty of things are going on in these cuts.
Real darkness comes through in their music and more so in this cd than many others in their career. I still get chills from listening to it over and over again.

Killing Game is my personal fave here, a haunting, melodic piece of tormentation. It's sooo introspective and menacing that once the song ends it will leave the listener dazed and uncomfortable. Yet it's sooo worth hearing. It is also just as relevant today as it was more than 13 years ago. This cd alone will kick ass against much of the "hardcore" music that's out today.

By most reasonable standards, Skinny Puppy should be one of the worst bands in history. Their highly theatrical act borders on performance art--pretentious performance art at that. Their version of Grand Guignol makes Alice Cooper at his peak seem like a small town community theatre production of "Dracula." Ogre's vocals are usually atonal, distorted and almost entirely bereft of melody. If he played a monster in some horror movie, it would impossible to take him seriously. The band never had much use for songs, anyway. They preferred soundscapes or agit-prop. Ah, yes, which brings us to the politics! Never mind that their animal rights schtick is anti-science, their presentation of it comes off as nothing but heavy handed harangues. They're also somewhat lacking in the sense of humor department, too.

But...

I always marvel at how they turned their electronic "dance" music into full-throttle heavy rock of the most ferocious order; when Skinny Puppy screams, you're compelled to listen. As their albums progressed, they started adding on more and more samples, until the average "song" was so choked with extraneous white noise it's like listening to a dozen radio stations at once--none of them getting clear reception. What holds it all together are the beats--gigantic arse-quaking hammers that hit you like you were a cow in a slaughterhouse (how's that for animal rights?). Skinny Puppy helped make me into the noise-hungry mutant that I am today. I've seen 'em live three times, and each show has been distinctly memorable, even if my hearing (and sanity) has been badly damaged as a result.

All of which brings me to "Last Rights" (thought I'd forgotten about the very item I intended to write about, did you?). Although "ViviSect VI" remains my personal favorite SK album, this one, which was originally intended to be their final album*, is their most dense and hard-hitting effort. Here, the samples not only augment the music, they frequently interrupt it. Sometimes, as on the 10-minute plus closer "Download," the samples ARE the song. This was of course a preview of one post-Puppy project, but it's still one heck of an experimental sound collage, one of the best pieces of musique concrete ever done by a bunch of Canadian eco-terrorist synth-geeks. The most pop friendly moment on the album is "Killing Game," which features, among other things, an actual chorus, not to mention a firm grasp of dramatic tension. It's also probably the closest they ever came to a "love song," though with its typically stream-of-conscious lyrics, it's hard to tell exactly what it's about. That song leads into "Knowhere?," one of the biggest and nastiest assaults of their career. It's like being attacked by an entire scrapyard, with Ogre howling and growling like a demented demon-spawn all the while. Really, there's practically no relief from the onslaught for the rest of the album. It's admirable if only for its sheer monolithic force. This is why, despite all their arty goth posturing, I still love them. "Last Rights" is probably best suited to hardcore fans, but with Skinny Puppy, you just don't dip a toe into the acid bath. You dive in and enjoy your flesh being seered from your bones.

*They did eventually reconvene for "The Process," which most fans and even the band itself considered their weakest release, capped off by the death of longtime member Dwayne Goettel. This seemed to do them in entirely, but they eventually gave into the temptation to reunite, taking the opportunity to let people know where they stood on the Bush administration (hint: the resulting album was titled "The Greater Wrong of the Right."). Maybe you can't teach an old puppy new tricks, after all.

When I discovered Too Dark Park I new that I had a masterpiece. I was doubtful that Skinny Puppy could ever come up with a cd that was even close to the Park. I read the reviews and decided to make this my third puppy cd. I was blown away by how great it is. I actually think that it may be on equal ground with Too Dark Park. For now I will just call it their second best. The big difference is that Last Rights is significantly darker. Maybe the Darkest Industrial cd that I own.
Love In Vein 9 This one creeps up on you with sinister synths and deranged incoherent mumbling.Ogre's vocals start with a low malicious whisper. Then beats, noises, samples, and plenty of shouting and screaming take over.
Killing Game 8.5 This song has a very depressing and gloomy atmosphere. Softer than all the other songs on the cd. Lots of organ and piano keys.
Knowhere? 10 Holy $h!t! Absolute devastating sonic carnage. When I first listened to it it gave me a migraine. It is a very complex sculpture of noise. On first listen you don't really grasp the structure of it. With some open minded patience it unravels and draws you into a realm of nightmares and pain.
Mirror Saw 20/10 So far my favorite Skinny Puppy song that I have heard. I could listen to it forever. I actually have listened to it on repeat for a whole day. I never get tired of it. Their is a brief part in particular that ensnared me. It is a depressing melody that first appears in the background behind the noise about a minute and a half into the song. Than at 2:36 it starts again. It is a simple yet beautifully depressing melody. The whole song before it gradually builds up to this point. The whole of the song is like sex, and this melody is the climax. By the time the song is ending it explodes in a crescendo of sorrow and emotion.
Inquisition 10 A awesome song that puts to shame most of today's industrial music. Very good chorus. The lyrics are great too. This song has a very good balance of beats, noise, and melody.
Scrapyard 7 The name says it all. Opens with some noise, and than their is this brief acoustic melody. Than out of nowhere the noise comes and crashes down all around you. As far as the noisier songs are concerned I think that Knowhere? blows this one away this still is a very solid song, but not my favorite here.
Riverz End 9.5 Very haunting synths give this the atmosphere of a gothic cathedral. There are several parts of this song that have a really catchy noise. I don't know what they used to make this noise but I wish I did. Imagine early Delerium( Euphoric EP) mixed with Einsturzende Neubauten. Its my second favorite skinny puppy instrumental after Stair's and Flowers.
Lust Chance 8.5 Very good beats. This song has a fragmented feal. It is full of beats, abrasive noise, and melodies. There are some good samples that sound like they were taken from a porn film.
Circustance 9.5 I love this one. The melody at first has this cosmic atmosphere. Than it descends into a nightmarish circus freakshow. Ogre sounds more possessed than usual.
Download 10 Musical version of a haunted scrapyard. Its like all the nightmares you ever had morphed into noise, and crammed onto this 11 minute ride to hell. Most will hate this track. It is only meant for those who are deranged beyond repair.
I don't see how anybody can be a Skinny Puppy fan, or even a industrial fan without having this cd.

I have heard quite a few people say that this is not a good album to start with for one just beginning to listen to SP. This is the first SP album I ever bought, and though it did take a while for me to fully appreciate some stuff like "Knowhere?", this and PROCESS became the only things I ever played.
Compared to TOO DARK PARK, this is much darker. Almost no recognizable samples of any sort, but lots and lots of layers of noise. Melodies and rhythms change and reverse with no apparent warning.

"Love in Vein"- very cold, dark intro accelerates into a heavy beat and bassline buried in noise and random music bits. Like "Addiction", it focuses on drug addiction, but while the 1987 hit took a critical look at the decay, this song has Ogre seriously undergoing the decay, and it makes for a very soul-crushing song.

"Killing Game"- coldly beautiful piano and organ form a background for Ogre's voice, which starts icily gentle and decays into insane babbling towards the end of the song, which will leave you shuddering

"Knowhere?"- what sounds like bombs exploding left and right crescendos into a wall of noise, buried guitars, and screaming. Sounds sorta like something Throbbing Gristle would have done had they had the technology. Takes a while to appreciate, but again great.

"Mirror Saw"- a cold, lonely-sounding piece with a techno-ish beat; the second most structured song on the album. Somehow I always think of driving on the interstate at midnight when I hear this.

"Inquisition"- the most structured song on the album, almost to the point where you could dance to it. Somewhat like "Mirror Saw" in atmosphere, but with a slightly more "early-90s-industrial" feel than the "mid-90s-techno" of the previous song.

"Scrapyard"- an awesome beat buried in all sorts of crackling noise, with random bits of sampling like an acoustic guitar, a country fiddle, and someone getting hit in the face. Sounds a bit like radio interference from multiple stations.

"Riverzend"- now this is interesting. Key has taken "Rivers" and "Choralone" (from the 1989 RABIES album), stripped them down to their melodic synth-scapes, segued one into the other, and added a heavy, chaotic beat and some great African-sounding drumming. Sounds like a Synaesthesia or early 90s Delerium atmospheric.

"Lust Chance"- an instrumental that keeps on flipping beats and melodies, with samples so sick you can't help but crack a smile when you hear them

"Circustance"- very creepy and random, with weird bits of noise or melody in between Ogre's furious vocals. This song seems to completely change every thirty seconds or so into a new lyrical structure, beat and "melody".

"Download" -Whoa. This is perhaps the greatest atmospheric ever. It is more like a journey, an eleven-minute oddysey through chaos and fear into a place of complete peace and serenity an the end. Hard to truly describe here. The final four minutes of "floating" music were actually a recording of the Legendary Pink Dots in-studio without any of their knowledge.

Well, what else can I say. This stuff is good.

I bought Last Rights after buying Too Dark Park; as I really love the latter, and many fans often consider these 2 to be the best Skinny albums, I first listened to Last Rights with anxiety. But I got disillusioned; The dark atmosphere created in TDP is absent here; Last Rights is not a bad album, but I think it lacks the changing beats of VIVISectVI and the darkness of TDP; there're good tracks though, 'Killing Game' is excellent and so is 'Inquisition'; but the work ends in a very irregular way, with instrumental tracks full of samples which are not bad in themselves, but stmes get too repetitive and tiring. I think that VIVISectVI and Too Dark Park are superior to Last Rights, better conceived and less irregular; However, the personal touch of Skinny Puppy is here, so Last Rights grows on you with each listening, but I think it will never beat these 2 previous albums. It anticipates somehow Download's works, mainly with the treatment of samples and instrumental atmospheres;

Well if you want a collection of really good songs then I would suggest Too Dark Park also if you are new to Skinny Puppy I would recommend that cd but if you want more of a musical experience then this is probably your best bet. Last Rights I think is better when listened to as a whole rather than just skimming over your favorite songs. The best words that I think to desribe this cd are: disturbing yet strangely beautiful at times. If you have any real interest in dark music then your collection isn't complete without last Rights.

This is Skinny Puppy at their finest. It's also the singer Ogre's most personal album lyrically. Songs like Love In Vein and Mirror Saw are about as Skinny Puppy as it gets. This is the album a lot of fans say Skinny Puppy peaked on. I'm inclined to agree, even though I still do really like the later albums.
For me the highlights are Love In Vein, Killing Game, and Mirror Saw. Some of the non-vocal songs like Scrapyard and Riverz End are cool too. Seriously though if your looking to get into Skinny Puppy this is one of their best, both lyrically and musically.

Last Rights is a brutal, beautiful force that starts in the confines of your skull and ends in the depths of your soul.
It opens on shades of hopelessness and the gutter scraping pain of addiction/kicking with Love In Vein, one of the finer songs SP has ever written. From there it moves to Killing Game, a quieter song dipped in the well of sorrow. As you soak this in, Knowhere? comes along like a slow, massive, nuclear jackhammer that will either induce migraines or cure them. Yes, you are alone. Yes, it hurts like this. And it's just getting started....

This album is a layered, excruciating masterpiece. It offers no answers, no hope, nowhere to hide. It doesn't have the overtly suicidal overtones of The Cure's 'Pornography' nor the murder-your-neighbor violence of Ministry's 'Land Of Rape And Honey'. Yet, it contains both at once. It's depression and anger intertwined like the fingers of a small child and a corpse. Riverz End is the final sunset of the world while Lust Chance pulls at you to break out that whip you've been dying to use on everyone. You can feel the tension in your teeth. Something is going to go down but you're never sure if it's at the local office building or your apartment. Either way, call the ambulance.

After most is said and done, Download closes out the album. This may be the sound of insanity or a bad acid trip in a county morgue but either way, hell yes. This is synthesizer madness at its finest. Keyboards struggling against oblivion and a straight jacket. It's a 10 minute ride that is as solid as anything I've ever heard. As it starts to cool, you're crawling along the floor, searching beneath the curtains for your skin. By the end, you're face up in bed, mute and wide eyed at a dead white ceiling, knowing, like emptiness itself, "This is it, this is all there is."

Now, play it again.

All the other reviews here are dead on, except for describing sp as 'pop'. However, i felt like adding sentiment that was yet unexpressed.

If you are just discovering skinny puppy, and have been listening to relatively normal music up to this point, this album may be lost on you. The book of revelations comes to mind as an analogy, in that it makes no sense to people who have not already read a great deal of the bible.

Skinny puppy is known for melodious and harrowing sound that challenges the popular conception of music. This album is the clearest example of such.

That said, for those who have cut their teeth on the starter albums, this album provides the meat, depth, and emotion that ensures long-term satisfaction.

Also, i don't hear a lot of mentions of 'inquisition', which i feel could be sp's best song. They keep time with an impact wrench, for god's sake.

A surprising comparison, but in theme, this album is much like Alice and Chains' "Dirt" album. It is all about Ogre's (as well as the rest of the band's) addiction problems. The lyrics to the songs were so important and personal to Ogre, that the story goes that he refused to have them printed on the CD (not that they are printed on any other Skinny Puppy CD!).

Stories aside, this is my favorite CD of Skinny Puppy's later period. I like it better than Too Dark Park, The Process, or VIVIsectVI. The first half of the album has some wonderful songs that draw the listener into this world. Each song is a little more complicated than the previous. As the songs progress, Ogre disappears from the music almost entirely, and you are left with wonderful instrumentals that are reminiscent of cEVIN kEY's solo albums and Download.

A must for any Skinny Puppy fan. It might be a bit too challenging for someone new to their music, though. Give it a shot. If you don't like what you hear at first, give it some time. You'll learn how to hear it and it will grow on you. It certainly went from being one of my most dusty CDs to the one that I never take out of my car. Enjoy!