Artist: Skinlab
Label: Century Media
Release Date: 5/28/02
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Title: The reVolting Room Artist: Skinlab Label: Century Media Release Date: 5/28/02 |
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Abyss's Review:
It's not pathetic that Skinlab has come out with a nu-metal album; Skinlab, along with every band from the mid-nineties "new Bay Area Sound" (i.e. Machine Head, Killingculture, etc.), were basically the same style of music anyway. Of course, back then the term nu-metal wasn't really around, and it certainly didn't provoke the ire it does now. What is pathetic is how far the band (or at least the people handling their promotion) is willing to go to distance themselves from the nu-metal tag, even while making an obvious attempt to court a more mainstream audience.
"While a band playing more mainstream metal in no way relegates them to oblivion in my book, this album definitely comes up short." While Skinlab's earlier work toed the line between metal and nu-metal, The reVolting Room leaves no room for doubt. It is nu-metal, plain and simple. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. People will argue with you and try to tell you it's different, but it's not. This is largely due to the production values. I remember seeing this band live at the WSOU (WSO who?) Riverfront Rampage, and I heard a new song that I remember liking more than anything on this album (this turned out to be "Slave the Way," which sounds much different here). And while a band playing more mainstream metal in no way relegates them to oblivion in my book, this album definitely comes up short.
It's almost as if the band realized that they were going in this direction and tried to do a preemptive strike in their press kit by apologizing for inspiring this style of music (nu-metal) that's been bastardized and commercialized by every crappy band (Limp Bizkit, POD) against their will (I like ice cream). They try to take credit for its success while simultaneously saying how uncool it is. What's worse is that the bands that Skinlab supposedly "inspired" are now the ones influencing the "originators" (by the way, it's hard to think of Skinlab as being that original when the they were called "Machine Head clones" after their debut came out). This is easily evidenced by listening to "Slave the Way," which would sound equally at home on a Powerman 5000 disc.
"And this album is one of the better nu-metal releases out there, although this is definitely their weakest album." If I'm sounding overly harsh it's because, well they deserve it from trying to toe the line between integrity and marketability so hypocritically (wow, that sentence sounded like it should've been sung by the Lollipop Guild in The Wizard of Oz). But I also want to point out that this album isn't all bad. There are a few songs ("Disturbing the Art of Expression" is a good example) that remind me of how much I liked this band. And this album is one of the better nu-metal releases out there, although this is definitely their weakest album. I'm certainly rooting for this band to make it in the mainstream markets that it sounds like they're attempting to court, I just want them do it on their terms. I want them to play their music to the best of their abilities and to stop making excuses and be who they are. One word review: Good.
Death's Review:
Skinlab played a major role in developing the "nu-metal" sound, although their style has always been much more underground and more true. Give them a lot of the credit but none of the guilt. Still, Skinlab was one of the early proprietors of the "downtuned groove metal with screaming vocals overlayed" approach, and while many lesser acts have since taken a decided bastardization of this sound to multiplatinum heights, Skinlab has labored in relative obscurity. Sure, they are one of the more high-profile acts on the Century Media roster (having reportedly scanned over 50,000 copies of their last album in the U.S., challenging Iced Earth's Horror Show, as the best selling Century Media title of all time), but compared to the major label nu-metal acts, Skinlab is still an unknown quantity in the high school halls of North America. No, they won't be on Ozzfest this summer, although they probably should be.
"No, they won't be on Ozzfest this summer, although they probably should be." Perhaps things will change with the release of Skinlab's new album, reVolting Room. Is it nu-metal? Not really, although, like Machine Head, with whom Skinlab has often been compared, some of the music comes awfully close. Still, Machine Head's recent efforts have gone much further toward commerciality than anything Skinlab has ever done, including this new album. In fact, I would not be surprised if the fact that vocalist Steev Esquivel sometimes employs a deep singing voice to add melody to some of these tracks (try "Take as Needed," "Never Give In," or the trippy and dynamic closer "One of Us," three of my favorite songs on the album) in a similar manner to Rob Flynn on say The More Things Change or The Burning Red, yet pummels with much more screaming ferocity on most of the record than Machine Head ever has, combined with the all-out brutality of most of these new riffs, causes some disappointed Machine Head fans to make the permanent switch to Skinlab as their new band of choice.
Stylistically, some parts of reVolting Room are a bit out there and do sound a bit mainstream friendly (in the same way Mudvayne or Slipknot are mainstream). The first few moments of opener "Come and Get it" definitely make me do a double-take. But 90% of this album is fairly straightforward, Skinlab-style metal, only with a better production than this band has ever received (credits go to Steve Evetts and Andy Sneap). This is what a decent recording budget can do for a metal band folks! Nice to see real attention paid in that department. Although I can definitely do without the fan phone calls (primarily at the end of the album) (you remember the ads which were running in Maniacs and other publications inviting fans to call a number and rant?)--the material isn't really all that funny or all that good.
"This is what nu-metallers would be listening to if they had a fucking clue." The songwriting on display on reVolting Room is clearly Skinlab's primary asset (production values notwithstanding and with all due respect to Mr. Esquivel's voice). Along with the three songs cited above as good examples of Esquivel's vocal performance, I particular enjoy "Disturbing the Art of Expression," which I believe at one point was part of the album's title. This is a killer tune that sounds like Pantera meets Machine Head meets Anthrax's "Inside Out" from Volume 8, with that whole downtuned groove thing thrown in for good measure. That is what you can expect from Skinlab - they don't try to be anything they are not. Instead, this album should appeal to those who have an appreciation for elements of the nu-metal sound like the downtuned guitars and heavy riffs and minor doses of melodic singing amidst the screams, yet who have no tolerance for the phony, trendy bullshit associated with so many of the current progenitors of the sound. Skinlab is nu-metal for tru-metal heads. Surely, if you are "King Brutal" or "Count Blackness"and only like the most extreme forms of metal, you are not gonna like this. But for those who have a taste that runs in this direction, this is a first rate effort from a band who clearly has focused a lot of attention on this release, an album which Esquivel describes as "the most important record of our lives." I, for one, am rooting for Skinlab. This is what nu-metallers would be listening to if they had a fucking clue.
Hel's Review:
Favorite track: "Jesus Sells"I believe it was late 1997 when I first found myself in Maritime Hall (another august metal venue which has recently closed its doors). I was there to see Exodus, with the late, great, Paul Baloff (R.I.P.) on vocals. I was wandering around the venue, checking it out, when this band I didn't know anything about came onstage. That band was Skinlab, and they proceeded to rip off my ears and stomp on them. A friend had tipped me off that they were incredible, but until that moment, I hadn't had the pleasure. I was hooked.
As I usually do when I find a band that I really like, I ran out and bought the album - Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded. After hearing that, as I usually do when I decide I really love a band, I immediately ran out and bought the limited edition EP Eyesore the moment I heard it was released. I quickly burned through its five songs and immediately began impatiently waiting for their next effort. I ultimately deemed Disembody: The New Flesh to be excellent, and even included on my very first Metal Judgment top ten list. I have been impatiently waiting for the follow up ever since. And they took their damn sweet time with it too!
"It would be easy for them to ...make a play for commercial fame. So did they? I really don't think they did.." A lot has happened in the metal world since the last Skinlab record was released. A sub-genre which I quite vocally abhor - nu-metal - rose to prominence in the mainstream and many of the participating bands incorporated elements commonly found in Skinlab's music into their own. Which created an interesting temptation for the band, I'm sure. Certainly, it would be easy for them to exploit these elements in their own music to a greater degree, dumb things down, betray the underground scene that supported and embraced them, and make a play for commercial fame. So did they? I really don't think they did.
While all of the elements referred to above still exist, they do not, to me, seem as though they are any more prevalent they in the past. I even went back and listened to Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded, to make sure I wasn't just making this up entirely, and the similarities, by and large, are indeed there. Not surprisingly, I find I like these parts less than I used to, but only because of the intolerance of anything nu-metal sounding I have developed as an increasing proliferation of bands playing music using the aforementioned elements of that certain fashion of playing have inundated the music world. Skinlab has always been, and remain today, a notch above any crowd, particularly that one. I cannot blame Skinlab for what others have done. Nor do I begrudge them the success they fully deserve if this album breaks into that scene. More power to them. And I will trust that they have enough integrity to not, next time, fall prey to that same temptation if they do indeed find success with this record.
"A few final random notes: I've always loved Steev's voice, I liked the last version of the band logo better, and you should buy this record." At the end of the day, I do not question the integrity of the music Skinlab has put on this record. I believe they have been slaving over this record for much of the time that has passed since their last release. I believe the emotion and sentiments shared by this record are sincere. I believe this is an excellent record. I believe they are capable of even better, however. "Purify" actually embodies, for me, the thing that ultimately prevents me from giving them the full five skulls. It begins with that catchy, melodic thing they do, then goes into this particularly high-pitched screaming part which carries with it all the cadence and connotations of nu-metal, at least for me. So, the thing they probably feared most is true for me, I don't like the parts the remind me so strongly of those things that most nu-metal seem to also do, even though they were there before all that was popular to do. A few final random notes: I've always loved Steev's voice, I liked the last version of the band logo better, and you should buy this record.
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