Customer Reviews

Remixes for the Damned

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I have a hard time expressing words....but....Filter's Remixes for the Damned gives the true Filter fan a chance to hear different interpretations of the songs that appeared on Anthems for the Damned. I like taking these little creative musical journeys...the different mixes gives the songs a fresh feel. Filter tapped back into the industrial sound, and songs such as What's Next (The Art of Lying to Yourself) and The Take (Rumsfeld Torture Party)....got a much heavier feel which I didn't think could be possible from the version on Anthems for the Damned. Soldiers of Misfortune (Justin Eyerly) brought goose bumps to my skin and a tear to my eye. Rich's soaring vocals are a real stand out on this version. The stripped versions of Only You and Lie After Lie are simply amazing.

Definitely a must have for Filter fans. Several new takes on great songs from the album. Hopefully they don't wait so long between albums again. The mixes here are in line with some of the others we've seen in the past from Filter, but are much shorter and incorporate more of the original songs rather than 3 minutes of club beats followed by snippets of the band and then more club beats. Great record. Best remixes they've put out yet. Buy it, even if you don't like remixes you'll find it growing on you fast.

While Anthems for the Damned wasn't the comeback album Filter mastermind Richard Patrick may have been banking on, the subsequent remix album, appropriately titled "Remixes for the Damned," manages to re-integrate some of the industrial influences prevalent in the band's previous releases, but which were lacking in said album. A digital release only (perhaps due to the underperformance of the album it's based on), the fifteen tracks that pad out the album remix and re-arrange some key songs, in turn, making for some material that is surprisingly equal to or greater than its source.

For fans who felt left in the cold by the creative direction of "Anthems for the Damned," you may be happy to find somewhat of an accidental return to form for the band. Some remixes call back to the past, while other's take the material into previously uncharted territory. The "Love's Labour's Lost" remix of "I Keep Flowers Around," in particular, spins the grungy tune on its head, giving it a trip-hop twist that fits the lyrical tone even more appropriately. Conversely, one of the heavier songs, "The Take," gets a completely different treatment. With a bassline and a slow-burning pace that echoes back to the band's signature hit, "Hey Man, Nice Shot," the track feels more like classic Filter than anything else. The Justin Eyerly remix of "Soldiers of Misfortune," while not straying too far from the original, manages to strip the song down to an even more powerful and emotional setting, opting for a subdued acoustic guitar rather than the slick sheen and distorted guitars of the original. "In Dreams" manages to be even trippier than the original, and while Wes Borland's chunky riffs are all but deleted, it's an improvement.

Unfortunately, though, there's some fat that could have been trimmed from the album. In particular, the remaining two remixes of "Soldiers of Misfortune" are throwaways and pale in comparison to the previously mentioned version. There are also too many remixes for the same song at times, which ruins the flow of the album and makes it tough to sit through. Did we really need three remixes of "Kill the Day?" No, not really. Some other tracks from "Anthems of the Damned" would have been appreciated. How about "The Wake" or the instrumental "Can Stop This," two songs in particular that could have benefited from a makeover? It seems a waste to revisit the same tracks over and over again, while omitting others. But I digress.

Overall, though, "Remixes for the Damned" is one of the few remix albums worth the time. While it can get a bit redundant at times, it manages to bring back some nostalgic feelings for older Filter fans while taking the time to make a few songs just that much better. Plus, it caps off with two acoustic tracks, which are always a treat, and this time is no exception. If you felt "Anthems for the Damned" left something to be desired, this album might be enough to fill that void.

Before you label this as "Filter adding new beats to Rich's vocals" take a good hard listen to it, because you will be pleasantly surprised.

Most electronic remix albums out there just make some beats and add the vocals to it; Filter did a much more refined job than that with this gem of a recording by keeping a great deal of the original instruments and vocals, and then added to it rather than take away from it, thus making it feel more like a heavily polished version of "Anthems for the Damned" rather than a techno remix of the original album.

A great relief with this album is that the added instrumentation's frequencies are based around Rich's vocals and Mitchell's guitar riffs, thus you need not have a massive subwoofer to enjoy this masterpiece. In other words, you don't get any of that Unh-tiss-unh-tiss-unh-tiss that is so typical of electronic music.

The best part of this album is how it starts as a roaring plethora of sound, then goes into a smoother chillout vibe, and ends with two acoustic tracks to close it all out. Frankly, the order of the songs is flat out perfect.

All in all, Filter has flat out made a perfect record that came out of nowhere. BUY IT NOW!!!