Industrial Rock

Unsung Masterpieces: Stabbing Westward- Darkest Days
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Back in 1998 while I was waiting for a new Nine Inch Nails record, an album was released by Stabbing Westward that would hold my attention for years to come. Darkest Days is the album I’m talking about. Stabbing Westward took their industrial influences a few steps further on this album without sacrificing their knack for writing catchy melodic songs. Singer Chris Hall’s anguish, pain and suffering all show through in his vocal performance. Something I found interesting about the album is that it’s actually a concept record. It’s made up of 4 parts,  with each depicting  a different emotional phase after a break up. The Tracks 1-4 is about sabotaging the relationship. Tracks 5-9 is about lust, hope, and longing. Tracks 10-12 is about hitting rock bottom after it’s all over. The final part is about recovery and self-respect. When I found that out a few years back, the album made a lot more sense to me. I’m sure most of you will remember the song “Save Yourself,” as it was the first single released for the album. But there is way more to the album than just that song. Songs like ” Everything I Touch,” “Drugstore,” “You Complete Me,” “Haunting Me,” “When I’m Dead,” “Torn Apart,” and “On Your Way Down” are absolute standouts. That’s not to say that the other songs aren’t as good, these ones just always seemed to have a lasting effect on me.

Stabbing Westward called it quits in the early 2000’s. Chris Hall went on to start the band The Dreaming. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them a few times over the years, and he is still one hell of a singer and frontman. During the early years of The Dreaming it wouldn’t be shocking to hear them play a couple Stabbing Westward songs live. It was announced recently that Stabbing Westward will be reuniting for a show to celebrate their 30th anniversary, but in Chicago. Let’s hope it goes well, so we can get a full on reunion tour!!!

 

Stabbing Westward- Darkest Days:

Unsung Masterpieces: Filter- Short Bus
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The early 90’s were a great time for bands. There seemed to be a huge creative explosion. Albums had substance, grit and provoked raw emotion. I could talk about certain bands all day like Nine Inch Nails and Alice In Chains who embodied such traits. One band that came out in this era and had all that in their debut album and that was Filter. The band was formed when Richard Patrick left Nine Inch Nails just before the recording of The Downward Spiral, and formed a new project with Brian Liesegang. Their debut album Short Bus combined industrial and hard rock. The live band was rounded out by Geno Lenardo, Frank Cavanagh, and Matt Walker. Short Bus has now gone on to sell over 1 million albums thanks to the success of “Hey Man Nice Shot.”

Kicking things off is “Hey Man Nice Shot.” This song is great, it has that quiet bass rumble start then explodes with force and Richard Patrick’s signature scream. “Dose” continues with the powerful riffs and heaviness and adds bits of melody. “Under” has a scratchy guitar intro that blends perfectly into a sort of industrial/dance beat. Lyrically and vocally it’s heavy without compromising the melody. “Spent” is another song that has the quiet to loud structure dialed in. “Take Another” uses the distorted bass line to really get the song going before getting to grit of Richard’s vocal delivery. “Stuck In Here” is a stripped down song that shows the true vulnerability of the group. It’s subtle in the way it pushes the albums direction as well. “It’s Over” follows the outro of “Stuck In Here” to a building verse then when the chorus comes, it opens up in a louder realm. “Gerbil” is solid heavy rock track. “White Like That” has a great intro leading into Richard’s voice then goes into subtle chorus. “Consider This” is another track that could almost foreshadow what would ultimately be their sound on the next album. Ending the album is “So Cool.” This song really slows things down and brings the album to an end with it’s string arrangement.

Short Bus is an album that often gets overlooked just like the band. The sheer creativity and artistic expression is vert prevalent on this album.  Sadly, when their second album “Title Of Record” came out and “Take A Picture” exploded on the radio, it seemed that Filter had lost what they once were. Luckily as time went on, they brought back elements of Short Bus into their albums. Especially on The Inevitable Relapse and their newest album The Sun Comes Out Tonight. Filter is and has been a great live band and solid songwriters. Richard Patrick has one of the most unique voices in the rock genre. This band deserves their due. Take a listen back to Short Bus and you’ll see what I mean.

 Short Bus:

 

By: Brian Lacy

Unsung Materpieces: Nine Inch Nails- Year Zero

Concept albums are very unique and at times take a long time to fully understand. Listening to select songs doesn’t give you the full effect. And a lot of the time the story that accompanies the album is very convoluted. Though there are many cases when the above statements don’t apply. Pink Floyd, The Who and more recently Mastodon and Nine Inch Nails  have been able to create epic concept albums that can stand on their own or as separate entities. In 2007, Nine Inch Nails released Year Zero.

“The Year Zero story takes place in the United States in the year 2022. The United States has suffered several major terrorist attacks, and in response the government has seized absolute control on the country and reverted to a Christian fundamentalist theocracy. The government maintains control of the populace through institutions such as the Bureau Of Morality as well as increased surveillance and the secret drugging of tap water with a mild sedative. In response to the increasing oppression of the government, several corporate, government, and subversive websites were transported back in time to the present by a group of scientists working clandestinely against the authoritarian government. The websites-from-the-future were sent to the year 2007 to warn the American people of the impending dystopian future and to prevent it from ever forming in the first place.”

So with that all mind one would think that this is just a mess, but in fact it’s the complete opposite. Trent never misses a step with creating this apocalyptic epic. This album was also the next step in Trent’s revitalized state of mind and musical odyssey. There are a lot of uses of noise, static, and strange yet amazing distortion. Certain songs stand out amongst the album as a whole such as “The Beginning Of The End,” “Survivalism,” “In This Twilight,” “The Great Destroyer,” and  “My Violent Heart.” Furthermore there was something else about this album, was that it opened up the visual aspect even more than before. Since Trent has described Year Zero as a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t even exist, it’s not hard to let your imagination take you off on quite a little trip.

Year Zero is not The Downward Spiral or The Fragile, but it is one of the most artistic and well thought out releases that Nine Inch Nails have ever released. One other strange thing about this album, was that touring for this album was not very prevalent. The people at Interscope records really dropped the ball on handling the marketing and promotion for this album, hence why it never got the due it deserved. So give yourself some time and delve back into Year Zero and see for yourself what you might have missed.

 Year Zero:

By: Brian Lacy