Artist: Grip Inc.
Label: SPV
Release Date: 3/16/04
|
|
Title: Incorporated Artist: Grip Inc. Label: SPV Release Date: 3/16/04 |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
|
3 | ||
|
3 | ||
|
2 | ||
|
| |||
Abyss's Review:
Grip Inc. has returned after an extremely long hiatus that obviously wasn't spent thinking of an album title. Now, I must admit that I, like many of you, was initially drawn to this band for a fix of post-Slayer Lombardo (despite the fact that I was always a big fan of Sorychta's production work). But with Dave back with his old band, plus his various other projects, I found myself a little less excited about this release than I may have been, say, five years ago. Basically, what I'm saying is that my original draw to this band has been satiated by other means, and I'm curious to see if this band can maintain my attention.
"One word review: Okay." Incorporated sees the band shifting sound a little, allowing for many more dirgey, slow parts that are mixed in with the hyper-fast beats and screams. Grip seem to have injected, dare I say it, a little more soul into their sound, and you'll pretty much have to judge for yourself if that's a good thing or not. From a technical standpoint the album is quite good. The guitar has a cool tone and the mix is remarkable, allowing for the enjoyment of each aspect of the songwriting. And when I put all of this together, it just leads to one question that I keep asking myself over and over again: Why don't I like this very much?
It's not that I don't like it. It's a capable, if not compelling, record. At its high points it really gets the blood flowing, and at these moments I see longtime fans of the band being far beyond satisfied. However, these truly inspired parts are not the norm for the record. There are lot of filler on here. And when I mean filler, I don't mean anything all that irritating. There maybe one or two tracks I feel compelled to fast forward through, but for the most part the filler is just blah. The riffs are generally uninspired and the vocals are left to carry the weight. And, unfortunately, they aren't really up to the task.
This is a good record. I find it hard to believe there will be many fans who would say it 'sucked', but at the same time it is far from a must-have record. One word review: Okay.
Death's Review:
"Overall, the songs - while creative and unique - are not really my cup of tea." Now that Dave Lombardo is back in Slayer, and, really, ever since he returned to thrash by performing on Testament's 1999 album The Gathering, you don't need to listen to Grip Inc. to hear Lombardo playing thrash metal. Although Incorporated is Grip Inc.'s fourth album, it is its first in several years. The creative core of Lombardo, vocalist Gus Chambers, and guitarist Waldemar Sorychta remains intact, as does the band's signature sound: Chambers' punk vibe mixed with Lombardo's and Sorychta's thrash, infused with catchy choruses and memorable lyrics. As before, Lombardo doesn't really "go sick" - he does what he needs to do within the confines of this type of music. Chambers is the true star, and his lyrics and vocals are interesting if sometimes a bit goofy. Thus, I'm of a mixed mind when considering this album. On the one hand, I find songs like "The Answer," for example, sticking in my head ("The question is why we don't stand up for what is right. The question is why we always stand up for what is wrong."); it is kind of cool the way Chambers weaves his vocal line along with the staccato guitar riff. But overall, the songs - while creative and unique - are not really my cup of tea. Almost too different. They don't kick my ass the way good thrash/punk should. They are competent and talented, creative and interesting, but still somehow come off sounding boring and irrelevant. I think that opinion, however, is very much a product of my personal taste (although I liked songs like "Ostracized" off 1995's The Power of Inner Strength a lot at the time). Grip Inc. fans should check out this release. I'm still waiting to hear the new Slayer record.
Hel's Review:
Talk about “out of sight, out of mind” – in the five years since Grip Inc.’s last release, I not only had forgotten how the band sounded, I also forgot that they actually have three releases prior to this. Imagine my shock when I went to the shelf to pull out Solidify (the only record I remembered) to see two others sitting next to it. I think this speaks volumes about how forgettable this band has been for me.So we’ve established that it has been a long time since their last release, and also that I have not been a big fan (or I wouldn’t have forgotten as much about them as I have) in the past. The only reason I can even remember for following this band at all is that Dave Lombardo sits behind the kit, and indeed, that is the only reason Incorporated managed to stay in my player as long as it did.
"In my book, this album blows. " In my book, this album blows. I immediately have issues with some of the lyrics. For one, I resent the presumption presented in “The Answer” that I “always stand up for what is wrong” and “never stand up for what is right” – how the hell do they know what I stand up for? And, what the hell does the phrase “Man with NO Insides” (from the song of the same name) even mean? Not that I really care… But one of my many pet peeves is that, if you can clearly understand the lyrics of a song, then they should NOT be utterly inane. Grip Inc. has violated that rule throughout this album.
Then there’s the music. As I have already mentioned, the blazing drumming of Mr. Lombardo is the only thing of worth on this record, and I give the overall score an extra skull for his performance, but this is the only bright spot on the record, in my opinion. I dislike the nu-metal tone that crops up in many of the songs, as well as the very European (that’s the only way I can think of to describe it) tone that dominates the rest of the tracks. Neither is my cup of tea. Pile on top of that the vocals, which I find distasteful, and you’ve got an album I really don’t like.
It’s possible that Grip Inc. fans will like this. Despite the fact that I apparently own their entire catalog, I have never been a Grip Inc. fan, so those that are really shouldn’t take my word as gospel on this matter. I suppose I could have listened to the old ones for reference before writing this review, but this one sucked so much, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Bottom line: this isn’t my thing and I won’t be listening to it again.
[- Metal Judgment Home -] [- Email Metal Judgment -]
©1999 Metal Judgment. All rights reserved.