Post by thesoundmonitor on Jun 4, 2004 6:30:48 GMT -5
SKINLAB
Nerve Damage
(Century Media)
When I heard there was a new Skinlab album coming I was quite interested to check it out, being a fan from their very early days. Then I heard that it was a double album, which got me even more interested. Unfortunately upon opening Nerve Damage I realised it was another one of those 'compilation style' albums: the ones which are filled with remixes, covers, videos, live and rare tracks - the selling point being the one or two new tracks.
In this case I guess the selling point is the Smashing Pumpkins cover and two new tracks. To put it bluntly though, their version of ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ is a pretty average attempt. Steev's vocals sound like he's absolutely smashed and just mumbling. This wouldn't surprise me after seeing them live once. In the liner notes Steev mentions that on-and-off Skinlab member Scott Sargent wanted to cover a Pumpkins song. After Scott left the band Steev chose ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’. In talking to Scott sometime after the cover Steev mentions that Scott had never considered that track and was thinking more of ‘Zero’.
I have to agree with Scott, ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings was a terrible choice and just doesn't lend itself well to being covered by a metal band. I think ‘Zero’ would have been a much better choice as a metal cover. At least it wasn't as ridiculously over played for a couple of years straight.
Of the two brand new tracks I have to say that while they are reasonable tracks they aren't much different to anything else Skinlab have written and don't really add much to the selling point of this album.
Considering all the material they have jammed onto the two CDs I have to wonder why they left off their cover of Brujeria's ‘Raza Odiada’. Maybe the track isn't quite as hard to find as some of the other songs on here, but it was such a good cover it was definitely worth finding a spare two minutes to include it.
The acoustic number is not anything ground breaking and I don't think many people will bother listening to it often. The few videos aren't exactly anything worthy of watching more than a few times either. The demos are mildly interesting just to see how the tracks evolve into the final version. However, worth listening to are the two tracks from the Circle of Vengeance demo (pre-Skinlab days).
There are some good tracks on Nerve Damage, however most appear in various versions on their other albums. Tracks such as ‘Anthem’ and ‘Come Get It’ - while good tracks to listen to - both appear on Skinlab’s previous album Revolting Room.
I have to wonder if Skinlab wanted to do this type of album or if they were pushed by Century Media. Maybe their intentions were credible and they did want to give something back to the fans. But to me these albums just appear like the band (or maybe more so the record company) is trying to make a buck off the hard-core fans without much of an outlay on their end. A prime example of this was Elektra with Kyuss's "best of" album Muchas Gracias.
Needless to say that while this album will sell to the hardcore Skinlab fans I don't think anyone else should bother wasting their hard earned $$$ on it. Save your money for when the band & record company respect you enough to give you something new, not this compilation crap.
By Nathan Peauril
Artist website: www.skinlabmusic.com
Label website: www.centurymedia.com
Nerve Damage
(Century Media)
When I heard there was a new Skinlab album coming I was quite interested to check it out, being a fan from their very early days. Then I heard that it was a double album, which got me even more interested. Unfortunately upon opening Nerve Damage I realised it was another one of those 'compilation style' albums: the ones which are filled with remixes, covers, videos, live and rare tracks - the selling point being the one or two new tracks.
In this case I guess the selling point is the Smashing Pumpkins cover and two new tracks. To put it bluntly though, their version of ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ is a pretty average attempt. Steev's vocals sound like he's absolutely smashed and just mumbling. This wouldn't surprise me after seeing them live once. In the liner notes Steev mentions that on-and-off Skinlab member Scott Sargent wanted to cover a Pumpkins song. After Scott left the band Steev chose ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’. In talking to Scott sometime after the cover Steev mentions that Scott had never considered that track and was thinking more of ‘Zero’.
I have to agree with Scott, ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings was a terrible choice and just doesn't lend itself well to being covered by a metal band. I think ‘Zero’ would have been a much better choice as a metal cover. At least it wasn't as ridiculously over played for a couple of years straight.
Of the two brand new tracks I have to say that while they are reasonable tracks they aren't much different to anything else Skinlab have written and don't really add much to the selling point of this album.
Considering all the material they have jammed onto the two CDs I have to wonder why they left off their cover of Brujeria's ‘Raza Odiada’. Maybe the track isn't quite as hard to find as some of the other songs on here, but it was such a good cover it was definitely worth finding a spare two minutes to include it.
The acoustic number is not anything ground breaking and I don't think many people will bother listening to it often. The few videos aren't exactly anything worthy of watching more than a few times either. The demos are mildly interesting just to see how the tracks evolve into the final version. However, worth listening to are the two tracks from the Circle of Vengeance demo (pre-Skinlab days).
There are some good tracks on Nerve Damage, however most appear in various versions on their other albums. Tracks such as ‘Anthem’ and ‘Come Get It’ - while good tracks to listen to - both appear on Skinlab’s previous album Revolting Room.
I have to wonder if Skinlab wanted to do this type of album or if they were pushed by Century Media. Maybe their intentions were credible and they did want to give something back to the fans. But to me these albums just appear like the band (or maybe more so the record company) is trying to make a buck off the hard-core fans without much of an outlay on their end. A prime example of this was Elektra with Kyuss's "best of" album Muchas Gracias.
Needless to say that while this album will sell to the hardcore Skinlab fans I don't think anyone else should bother wasting their hard earned $$$ on it. Save your money for when the band & record company respect you enough to give you something new, not this compilation crap.
By Nathan Peauril
Artist website: www.skinlabmusic.com
Label website: www.centurymedia.com