Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a master/monsterpiece, June 29, 2004
All i can say about this album is that i have been listening to it for the last 13 or so years and I love it as much as the day i first purchased it. I had never heard something so solid raw,enigmatic and fresh from beginning to end all the while finding myself asking "How do they get sounds like that recorded on a cd?".Forget lotsa hair, headbanging and playing guitars at 200 mph (altho some bands do this very well) the experience this album gives is something that I cannot define. I play this record for friends, many of them death metal fans and i get this creeped out, uneasy initial response and then a sort of reserved and cautious groove as the songs progress. When they see photos from the TDP tour they realise why SP, before Jim Rose were receiving "falling ovations". This is a serious milestone in music, the analogue beats and sounds are unprecedented. It separates itself from other industrial music as it shy's away from the same bland drum-machine generated 4/4 beats that plagued a great deal of 80's industrial music. The brief use of Gregorian chants in "Dig It" is just an example of the plethora of snippings that Puppy used to create its collage of sound ( an idea Enigma used 5 years later to sell millions of albums) but to do what Skinny Puppy did would require some seriously open-minded masses to sell albums on that scale. When I listen to this album today I can barely, with the exception of a few synth sounds, date the music. In some ways it sounds better than much of today's production - drum sounds especially. I also enjoy the use of Gustav Dore's wonderful etchings as the interior sleeve art melded with SRG's as always brilliant album covers. This album is kind of like Chinese medicine in the West - It was years ahead of its time and even by todays standards, with all the technological advances, still has a few secrets and advantages that even though when imitated, dissected, or scrutinized and misunderstood, it still stands as a unique and timeless masterpeice. Brap.
|
|
|
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful., September 19, 2004
Since ordering this album 3 days ago, I have listened to this album 12 times all the way through. Contrary to most reviewers here, I really don't find this album evil, or dark. If you want dark listen to Last Rights, and I don't really think SP was ever evil. They're one of the most moral bands I know. Anyway, this album is very melodic and ethereal, and actually contains one of SP's happiest songs, namely "Love". The way it's put together reminds me of flowing water. Also, the art is excellent. Here's my track by track.
1) One Time One Place (9/10) A good song, but there's nothing about it that really distinguishes it from the others. Kinda sounds like something from their next album, CFM.
2) God's Gift (Maggot) (10/10) VERY cool. The weird slowed down talking adds to the song, and the stuttery, loud sections where he's screaming are awesome.
3) Three Blind Mice (10/10) The synth on this one is very good. Puts you in a trance.
4) Love (10/10) Their best instrumental. Very, VERY well put together. Shows that even industrial artists actually do write songs, rather than just putting sounds together (Scrapyard, anyone?).
5) Stairs and Flowers (11/10) Genious. A funky, cool beat with some weird vocal sounds from Ogre for about 3 minutes, as well as some seemingly random synth notes and noises. Then, all of the sudden, a bubbly synth line begins, and it strangely harmonizes with everything going on. Awesome.
6) Antagonism (10/10) Great synth again, and some memorable lyrics. "Living, yet unaware. Asking do you really care?".
7) 200 Years (9/10) A good instrumental with song awesome samples. "What's wrong with you? What's wrong with everybody in this crazy place!?".
8) Dig It (10/10) This song deserved its fame. Perfect.
9) Burnt With Water (8/10) EXTREMELY WEIRD. Some strange cymbals with Ogre randomly yelling 'Behavior!'. It would've been a great experiment if it was a bit shorter.
Bonus tracks:
10) Chainsaw (9/10) A somewhat unmemorable typical-for-this-time-period SP song with a cool bass line. I love the pitch bended opera voice.
11) Addiction (First Dose) (8/10) Very minimalistic, they cut out over half the background sound and keyboards from the CFM version, but its somehow likeable anyway. You can also hear the vocals much better, which are in general very quiet on CFM.
12) Stairs and Flowers (Too Far Gone) (9/10) Like the original without my favorite synth part. I like some of the new synth stuff they added, though.
13) Deep Down Trauma Hounds (8/10) See Addiction (first dose).
Overall, this is a great album, exactly what I was looking for when I ordered it. It's one of SP essential albums along with Last Rights, Process, Too Dark Park and VIVIsect VI. It's a lot more synth focused than any others from this time in their career. I havent heard Bites, but CFM was pretty much based on percussion and being creepy. I like this MUCH better than that though.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Puppy., February 12, 2006
Well this isn't The Puppy's best release but it has several essential tracks such as "One Time, One Place", "Dig It", "200 years", "Three Blind Mice" and "Chainsaw" which is pretty much one of the freakn coolest SP songs ever! Not as dark or disturbing as their later stuff but with more of a dance vibe. A couple of the songs are a bit weak for Skinny Puppy standards but when the songs are good they tend to be damn good.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
