MSG Me. I'm ready and willing.
Taproot :: Gift
Released: 2000. Velvet Hammer/Atlantic.
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These guys are so close but just not quite innovative. If they hadn't gotten repetitive with the guitars and electronic beats and if the lead singer were more creative melodically this band would kick ass. Not that they don't kick ass to a certain extent, but not the steel-toed sphincter-warping ass kicking they're capable of. I originally set out to trash this album because the few songs I'd listened to had annoyed me. They came through on several tracks though, such as the first one, "Smile," which took a while to grow on me. Very nice screams and mad guitar riffs. What the lead singer lacks in talent he makes up for in effort. He's very angry. In this respect, I'm pleased to see they haven't jumped on the modern rap-core bandwagon of dogging an unnamed ex-girlfriend. These have a more grunge-like depression to them, where the blame is centered on oneself instead of passing the blame off on a past relationship. The source of their darkness seems rather generic sometimes, such as in "Emotional Times." He starts it off saying "Life sucks sometimes..." like nobody's ever thought of that one. "Believed" is pretty smooth in the middle when he does a more MC type of vocals. He's pretty good at it and should definitely do it more often. It reminds me of the early and good Limp Bizkit days when Fred was pleasing to people of taste. Some of these songs sound like the guitarist never bothered to really write a song, like he's just making up some lame intro right there in the studio. "Comeback" sounds like straight up old school Bizkit, with very Durstish rap vocals and creative guitar riffs. "I" makes me want to yank the CD out, break it into pieces and cut my wrists with the shards, and it's only because of the opening guitar. While many of these songs are pretty run of the mill on your stereo at home, these boys put on a pretty good show. They toured with Deftones and Incubus in the fall of 2000 and did a fine job opening even with so many shit songs. This is their first LP, so I tend to want to cut them some slack. If they can refine their style they'll be quite an act. |
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