Album Review: Scar the Martyr by Scar the Martyr

Readers familiar with this site will know that an opportunity for a preamble has never been missed. There is a first time for everything though. If you require a sense of the expectations that were built up for the release of this album, you can check out the review of the Revolver Magazine exclusive EP here: http://jakespeare88.blogspot.com/2013/09/album-review-revolver-ep-by-scar-martyr.html

With that aside, a few notes on the full album:

-The criticisms levied against Henry Derek in that review remain fair, but something became very clear mere seconds into the first track on the full album: Rhys Fulber served as producer on this effort. Being a long time Fear Factory fan, his sonic imprint has become very familiar, and Fulber's work producing Burton Bell's voice brings a degree of confidence in Derek that wasn't there before. Fulber is very good about enhancing voices and melding them into the polished, heightened soundscapes that are the songs he works on, so if his effects are behind Derek's voice, than the voice that we're hearing is probably only enhanced, not artificially generated or as overly affected by Pro Tools as suspected.

-Jed Simon and Kris Norris are a pairing that should work together more often. Their work on this album is among if not the best guitar work I've heard this year. The way they manage to weave together solos is incredible.

-Going back to Fulber, he definitely should be commended for this one. His work for Fear Factory has been lessened seemingly by the increasingly lower budgets the band is working with now that they're on Candlelight instead of Roadrunner, but even then everything was very precise, mechanical, and clean. This album sounds like the horror movie the cover art and the imagery surrounding it suggests. Ugly, Gothic, and inhuman.

-My preorder was already in, so the full album was guaranteed regardless of what thoughts there were surrounding the EP, but if you haven't preordered like me, this is an album you should definitely pick up.

Album Review: Savages by Soulfly

Savages was never an album that was even briefly considered for a review. Max Cavalera's status as a metal god cannot be debated, but that status was mostly won on the strengths of past accomplishments with Sepultura. The two Cavalera Conspiracy albums were promising, but Soulfly has never been that appealing. The early albums seemed to be primarily experiments with whatever obscure musical instruments and trends Cavalera had discovered in his treks around the globe and less interested on being, well, compelling metal albums. It was as if Roots had been so focused on the tribal drumming that the guitars were left out of the mix.

Minds can be changed though, and the greatest compliment Savages can be given is that it prompted such a change. It doesn't stand with Chaos A.D. or behind Beneath the Remains, it will take a few listens before it even becomes clear if this is on the level of the two Cavalera Conspiracy discs, but it is rather brutal, and is enough of a reminder of those great previous works to keep people interested.

In addition to the personal criticisms already levied against Soulfly, another I've seen brought up about the group and Max in general is the degree of nepotism in the Cavalera camp as of late. Sepultura obviously started out in part as a family affair with brother Igor on drums and Max on vocals and rhythm guitars, and Cavalera Conspiracy was founded based on the reunion of those brothers. But Soulfly now includes Max's son Zyon on drums and recent tour packages have seen his other sons Igor and Richie bringing their bands out with them, even going as far as to bill some of the legs as the "Maximum Cavalera" tour. Personally, it is hard to deny that these moves come off as alternatively a bit frustrating and frankly lame. Soulfly still gets enough exposure that bringing other bands looking for a break could help them a lot, and being the son of Max Cavalera is already going to give you a leg up in terms of connections. But all of that pales in comparison to how they sound musically. Lody Kong and Incite, the other two siblings' bands, are as of yet unfamiliar, but in terms of Soulfly and Zyon's role in it, people don't have much to complain about. The kid, if we can still call him that, is a more than capable drummer. There are also hints of the tribal percussion that became the selling point of Roots, although these are minimal, kept mostly to a few bongos and other similar sounding instruments. What there is in terms of alternative percussion is welcome though, because although the brutality of Savages is welcome, the mix can occasionally come off as a bit too muddy, a complaint often levied against some of Terry Date's metal work (the debut album for the Deftones, Adrenaline, comes to mind). Max's lyrics are also definitely not what they used to be. The most memorable political statement on the disc seems to be the track "Ayatollah of Rock 'N' Rolla" and yes, you did sadly read that correctly. Thankfully, when Max sticks to recalling horror movie imagery or typical metal brutality his delivery is still as acidic as ever. The snarl remains distinctive, and his guitar work along with that of Marc Rizzo make this an appropriately mean spirited, but musically accomplished affair.

It cannot be guaranteed that all minds will be changed upon listening to Savages. After eight albums it would be stupid to think that people won't be set in their ways. But at least one person is thinking differently afterwards, and that's enough evidence to suggest that this album is worth a try.

Album Review: Fortress by Alter Bridge

There doesn't appear to be a historical record of the moment the words "side project" became dirty. Like the term "sellout", it appears to have become an easy shorthand for people to use when naming why a band doesn't work for them anymore. A band changes their style, the fan doesn't want to grow and evolve, so the band "sold out". A member didn't need to do something different, something that if a fan truly appreciated him as a musician they would support despite it being different, he got distracted by side projects. In Flames was a side project, and the Gothenberg scene would either have taken longer to evolve or possibly not even become what it was without them. Regardless of the reputation A Perfect Circle and the individual members have gone on to attain, it started as a side project. At some point, Alter Bridge joined the ranks of the side projects that seem to have overtaken the "main" bands they emerged from. Creed was one of the biggest names in rock for a decade, and they had a very successful reunion tour a few years ago, but that momentum appears to have stalled and a promised follow up to 2009's Full Circle has not appeared as of yet. In the meantime, Alter Bridge has continued to rise, to the point of being able to headline Wembley Stadium in the UK and attaining domestic sales figures that rock bands struggle to reach today. The spotlight has never shined brighter on this band, but does Fortress hold up under scrutiny like that?

It should keep fans in the stadiums. The band continues to refine themselves and these songs are among their heaviest and most complex yet. Mark Tremonti continues to amaze, packing the disc with solos and making sure people are aware that his severely underrated 2012 solo album was not an anomaly. His kind of virtuoso guitar work just isn't heard enough on rock radio these days. Also a standout here is drummer Scott Phillips, who along with bassist Brian Marshall provide an excellent rhythm section to serve as a foundation for Tremonti's flights of six string fancy. Myles Kennedy, an unknown quantity at the start of Alter Bridge, has risen right along with the band and now he plays with members of Guns N' Roses as his own side project. If that doesn't spell success, who knows what does, and thankfully it is earned success. There is a strong undercurrent of old fashioned boozy rock and roll to his voice, one that makes it easy to see what Slash saw in him. His lyrical subjects may be the same generic points that many a vocalist in this genre has become stuck on (Lover? That track's about what you would think, just in case you were wondering), but he's able to bring a fresh approach to them that keeps things interesting. He will never be a favorite, primarily due to a previously mentioned issue with higher pitched rock singer, but he is certainly proving himself to be versatile, and the band along with him.

People keep saying rock is dead. To be fair, there have always been people that have made that argument, but these are dire times to be certain. We need bands like Alter Bridge with hit singles on the radio to keep proving them wrong. Thankfully, this is a band people can actually stand behind unashamedly, especially with the release of Fortress.

Album Review: Revolver EP by Scar the Martyr

The four year hiatus for Slipknot that followed the death of Paul Gray is apparently at long last coming to an end with a return to the studio and possibly, hopefully a new album in 2014. This period has undoubtedly been too long for fans and hopefully long enough for the band members, but it isn't like there's been a dearth of activity from the masked men. Corey Taylor has arguably only become the media presence that he is now since Gray's death. Audio Secrecy, Stone Sour's third album, came out only three months after his death, and that band, featuring Slipknot guitar player Jim Root, then followed that up with the House of Gold and Bones duology and all of the tie ins that came with that. Taylor also wrote two books in that timeframe and was involved with Dave Grohl's Sound City project. Shawn "Clown" Crahan may not have been as visible in the public sphere but was almost as busy with a production company and gearing up to direct a feature film of his own. Beyond that, the members have mostly been quiet, but the rest of the band has arguably never been that involved with side projects. That is, with the exception of one. Drummer Joey Jordison has been unusually quiet outside of a touring stint with Rob Zombie, and while he is certainly under no obligation to spend his time pleasing anyone but himself, it was certainly a pleasant moment when he announced that he had a new project with an album coming in right under the wire before the Slipknot reunion. The project, now known as Scar the Martyr, featured Jordison playing bass, rhythm guitars, and drums (a touring bassist will be brought out on the road), and a supergroup consisting of frequent Devin Townsend collaborator Jed Simon, Darkest Hour's Kris Norris, and former Nine Inch Nails member Chris Vrenna on keyboards with newcomer Henry Derek taking the microphone. The band has released an EP exclusively through the magazine Revolver as a preview, featuring the two lead singles Blood Host and Soul Disintegration along with a couple of B-sides that did not make the album. If the preceeding information dump hasn't proven enough of an indication, expectations are high for Slipknot nerds. Based on this preview, should they remain so?

Yes and no. Jordison giving a good performance should go without saying. His drums here are not quite as persistent and rapid fire as in Slipknot, but that's not to say it is any less impressive. Jed Simon and Kris Norris's guitars actually prove the highlight, particularly in the third track After the Fall. There are quite a few chances for the two to play solos that both interlock and play off of each other in opposition and their duality should be a force to reckon with live. The problem comes in with Derek and to a certain extent the way his vocals are produced. The production in general is quite strong. The artwork obviously suggests a Gothic, creepy feeling and the production unsurprisingly follows that. This is a very dark, creepy affair with touches like faint bells in the intros to songs coming off as suggestive of horror scores and sound effects of the past. Unfortunately, Derek's voice is very clearly studio processed, an untrained ear could even hear the effects, and for an unknown quantity like him being altered to sound like, well, frankly most other vocalists of this genre doesn't lend much confidence as to what he might sound like live. He could very well be just fine, but to a listener that doesn't know him a less than unique performance on record becomes a bit of a problem. Also, it has become a minor meme on sites like MetalSucks, but it has to be pointed out that Derek's lyrics are not exactly inspiring either. The words to Blood Host begin to conjure images at the start of the track, but the images never really coalesce and the meme comes in with the barked refrain of "CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE" which does, admittedly, sound like a few other meathead rock anthem refrains one could think of. Bad lyrics unfortunately can't be corrected live (well, I suppose they could, but that would make things complicated) unlike a production issue.

There's still another fourteen to sixteen songs coming with the full album, depending on which release you purchase, and it wouldn't be the first time that a record company picked tracks for the singles that aren't the most indicative of an album's quality. Expectations should remain high for this effort, but some caveats would suggest keeping them from getting out of proportion.

Album Review: Dream Theater by Dream Theater

Let's be frank, it has been a long time since Dream Theater has committed to the metal half of the tag "prog metal". Let's be even more frank, it's been a long time since Dream Theater have been interesting. For the last ten years, since the release of Train of Thought, the band has been content to fit into their niche and play to their audience without really shaking things up. Some had gotten their hopes up that the departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy would provide the necessary jolt to bring different, more exciting elements to the surface, but 2011's A Dramatic Turn of Events frankly did not live up to its title. As improbable as it seems, a group of musicians with the collective skills that these men possess has become...boring. Never bad, but boring all the same. But it is a new album cycle, and with a self titled album comes hope for bigger and better things, a redefinition, a new paradigm. The question then becomes, are Dream Theater still treading water, or are they back to their former glory?

It's actually hard to believe that the final product is as good as it is. This is not only the best Dream Theater album since Train of Thought, this is one of the best albums of a very strong year for music. These guys haven't settled for a return to form, they've gone above and beyond. Starting off with what sounds like their riff on a Hans Zimmer score with False Awakening and ending with a twenty three minute suite that brings to mind Metropolis Pt. 2, this is an incredibly symphonic, cinematic album on top of being heavy again. The songs don't feel long this time around, they feel complex. They don't feel laborious, they feel energized. In interviews John Petrucci namechecked bands like Periphery and Animals for Leaders, and I don't know if his time spent listening to and hanging out with younger groups reenergized him, but his guitar parts on this new CD are nothing short of awesome. He pretty much carries one of the main instrumentals, and that track, called Enigma Machine, is by far the best on the record. New drummer Mike Mangini has now been fully intergrated into the writing process, and his performance here is standout enough that I regret not giving him enough credit in the past. He clearly wasn't given parts that were worthy of him on A Dramatic Turn of Events (he came in after the album was written). Even the keyboard parts on this record are either well integrated or are calibrated well enough to avoid the irritation they've caused in the past. Even on Train of Thought and before the inevitable keyboard solo was a dreaded moment to me, but on this release they've found a way to make it work. If I have one nitpick about this, I feel like James LaBrie is still not as standout as he could be. His solo album from a few months ago, the underrated Impermanent Resonance, was more of a showcase for him, an even better blend of heavy music and his clean, high pitched style. He's very good on Dream Theater, but he's missing an extra bit of oomph that the rest of the band seems to have found.

There's no saying that this band won't backslide and become too comfortable again, but at least for the moment they've crafted a standout release that one can only hope will be the start of a new, bigger, and better phase for them. Dream Theater has returned, and better late than never.

Album Review: 8:18 by The Devil Wears Prada

 

The demise of the once proud Roadrunner Records has been well documented over the last couple of years. What was once the largest label in the metal world has now become another subsidiary of Warner and has in the process lost many of the biggest names involved. Staff members like legendary A&R man Monte Connor have moved on to other labels, musicians like Max Cavalera, who has ended up signed to Roadrunner with FOUR different bands, have taken their business elsewhere. So a band signing to them at this point seems like an odd anomaly. Rising Christian metalcore stars The Devil Wears Prada became that anomaly early last year, and actually, it makes perfect sense. The band's star has been rising for years, and with the one two punch of the Zombie EP and Dead Throne they began to make the transition from ironic song titles and spots on the Warped Tour to opening for Slayer and Slipknot on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival. Some continue to view this evolution as selling out, and little if nothing will shake them from this belief, but to the open minded this move would have to make sense. To many, 8:18 will be seen as the moment The Devil Wears Prada arrived.

For four/fifths of the band, they can bask in the glory of the moment. The Devil Wears Prada got heavier by roughly a factor of ten with their last two releases and 8:18 sees them continuing to evolve that sound into something that could probably be described as brutal. This almost crosses the line from metalcore back into straight hardcore. Guitarists Jeremy DePoyster and Chris Rubey, bassist Andy Trick and drummer Daniel Williams form a near perfect union on this release. Unfortunately, their frontman Mike Hranica isn't in quite as fine shape, and when a member of your band isn't in top shape you don't want it to be the man out in front. Hranica's screaming on this release sounds, to be kind, strained. Forced. It sounds like he's trying too hard. After four releases of perfectly fine, well calibrated screaming, Hranica appears to have wanted to shake things up a bit and in doing so went in the wrong direction. Too often a particularly dark, downtuned passage will be marked by a high pitched scream that seems to push a little bit too hard and Hranica will sound a little bit too close to losing his voice for at least this reviewer's comfort, and it kills the moment unfortunately. It kills a lot of moments. I understand the intentions were to aim for a rawer, more immediate approach, akin to live performance, but if he had sounded like this during a live performance the response should be the same.

It is unfortunate that this record comes as close to being something great as it does, because that makes a major component letting the group down this way all the more tragic. The rise will probably not stop here, but it would've been nice to have a better record to show off on this new plateau.

Album Review: From Beer to Eternity by Ministry

Nobody, up to and especially including Al Jourgensen, expected people to have to have the "better to burn out than fade away" debate about Al Jourgensen. Arguably the father of industrial metal, Jourgensen spent the vast majority of his career redefining debauchery and abusing every narcotic he came across. After thirty some odd years and albums, and after two previous escape attempts, Jourgensen is apparently closing the book on his primary band Ministry, after the death of his "best friend" and guitarist Mikey Scaccia, with From Beer to Eternity. Judging by the (godawful) album art, it would seem not much has changed. Al Jourgensen appears to remain either the provocateur or jester he always has been depending on who you ask. But an album, like a book, should not be judged by cover alone. So what of the music?

If From Beer to Eternity's primary purpose is to serve as a memorial to Scaccia, it succeeds. His guitar sounds as raw and distorted as it ever has under the Ministry banner (time will tell how it sounds on the final Rigor Mortis release, which I personally am desperate to hear) with even better production than ever. Although he played on the previous disc Relapse as well that album doesn't highlight the guitars quite the way this one does. This is vintage Ministry akin to The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste and really brings the metal flavor back to the band. The problem with the disc unfortunately lies with the other major player, the aforementioned Mr. Jourgensen. Whereas the instrumental sections are as visceral and nasty as ever, the lyrics have taken a turn for the juvenile and impotent. That's when he chooses to write lyrics that is. Nine times out of ten, he resorts to samples and lets his targets hang themselves. While they certainly don't deserve anything more than that, you're not going to find me defending Fox News from "Fairly Unbalanced", we as fans should and do expect more than that from Al. If lyrics are printed in the booklet, one would be forgiven for assuming they simply reprinted the title to the song "Punch in the Face" over and over again because that is essentially all there is for words. It isn't as if Thieves was a Burroughs poem (although plenty of his works have been sampled, especially on the last few discs), but his power with words has slipped regardless. "Change of Luck", the album's penultimate track, was billed as Jourgensen's farewell to Scaccia, but personally speaking I got nothing from the lyrics in terms of how he felt about him. Especially disappointing.

If this was a transition release from the band's comeback on Relapse into bigger and better things, Jourgensen might be more easily forgiven. Grief cannot easily be discounted either. But given how productive tracking sessions for this disc with Mikey apparently were, I just wish a bit more inspiration had come through in the words. As it is, the disc at least ends Ministry on top overall. The legacy remains mixed, but ends on a positive note. After a career like theirs, I suppose that's all we should be asking for.

O.N.E. Night Stand at the Bismarck Civic Center 08/20/13

Generally, when I go to a show it ends up being the focus of my whole day. I'd love to only need to drive up the street to a club or the Minot Auditorium to get my live music, but that generally doesn't happen. Usually, I end up driving an hour and a half to Bismarck or almost five hours to Fargo. If it's in Fargo, this means I'm likely to spend most of the day travelling, followed by throwing my bags into the hotel room and speeding to the venue, only to return to said room to sleep for a few hours before getting up and travelling again. Bismarck usually means I can get some work done before I leave, but the day of the ONE Night Stand I decided to try to fill the day with errands for myself and the friend who was accompanying me. Why not right?

Whoops.

It ended up being a day kicked off with a late start, followed by failed attempts to get things done and plenty of infighting between the two of us, and by the time we were beginning to head over to the parking lot of the Civic Center I honestly didn't even want to go to the show. As much as I was looking forward to seeing the reunited Soil, if I had my way we would've turned around and gone home.

Luckily, cooler heads prevailed.

We skipped one of the two local Battle of the Bands winners, a group called , in order to eat, yet another decision I regretted making when we discovered there were food trucks on site. The second, False Advertisement, was setting up as we arrived. I have to confess that my attention wasn't fully on the band, I was scoping merch tents and checking about signings already, but they made me wonder if putting Battle of the Bands winners on a large outdoor festival was a bad idea. They didn't sound bad, but they clearly were a bit lost with the large empty space to try to play to. Attempts at crowd banter fell flat, they basically stood still and looked out into the void that was the Bismarck Civic Center parking lot. Still, like I said, they sounded good. I would've given the music a shot on CD, but they weren't selling one.

When Acidic first started, I had a really bad feeling about them. One of their first songs was a cover of Come Together (if I have to explain whose song that is, you need to stop reading), and I have a rule about new bands covering legendary acts, one that nearly cost Battlecross their shot at any respect from me. Luckily, they eventually won me back. They're an LA band that clearly shows their roots, they admitted afterwards when I met up with them to being heavily influenced by Jane's Addiction, a choice which I picked up on almost immediately. There was also at least one bass intro that I would swear was taken directly from Faith No More, but they assured me it wasn't. This early 90's alt rock vibe especially helped them stand out in a day of post grunge rock bands, not that I'm knocking the other groups...

...especially when one of them was the group I came to see! I first discovered Soil when Ryan McCombs was singing for Drowning Pool and didn't think I'd ever get to hear them at that point given their back and forth in the press. You wouldn't be able to tell from their performance that those remarks had ever been made though. Spirits were high, the jokes were flying, and the only way asshole was used was as a term of endearment. McCombs really went above and beyond with his interactions with the crowd, for example by sticking his microphone up to yours truly and letting me sing a chorus on Breaking Me Down. That's right, I am not only a blogger, I at one point contributed guest vocals to Soil. I swear, I haven't let it go to my head at all. While the heat was really starting to get to people at this point it did not slow down the band at all despite their constant remarks about it, and Ryan even came out into the crowd and sang Halo surrounded by a group of the hottest, sweatiest people in the place. It was release day for their newest album Whole (my review of which can be found here: http://jakespeare88.blogspot.com/2013/08/album-review-whole-by-soil.html), and I usually feel a bit bad for bands that have to spend their biggest publicity day in the middle of North Dakota, but I think we gave them a pretty good time to make up for it. Their single show the next night in Minot turned into two shows, so the reception must've been good.

My friend's desired group was up next. Outside of one contribution to the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack, I'm not familiar with Smile Empty Soul, but she has apparently been a fan for years. They screamed a bit more than I expected, but other than that they sounded about like I expected. I feel bad that I really only have that to say, but they didn't leave much of an impression on me. None of it was bad, but it pretty much came and went without incident. She enjoyed it though, so that ultimately is all I care about.

After a fairly positive day, I began to worry about Taproot within the first couple of songs. The vocalist, to be perfectly honest, appeared to be having frequent attacks of some sort and was thrashing around in ways I'm not sure I've seen a human move before. This is from a metal kid too, and I've seen some strange things in mosh pits. This guy, I don't know. I think Mike Patton probably would've told him to calm down, but maybe that's just me. Luckily, he put on a guitar after a few songs and having something to focus his energy on seemed to smooth out his stage show a bit. The set also seemed to move towards a harder rock sound after a while that began to justify the antics a bit better. By this point people were pretty drunk and were starting mosh pits which was a headache for security, but Taproot seemed to both feed off of it and encourage it. I will certainly keep them in mind if I see them on future bills, and I will do my best to stop confusing them with Trapt.

At this point, our day came to an end. Pop Evil was still to come, but we saw them back in May with Sevendust, and after a day spent in the heat we were ready to call it good. After one more stop at Merch Row (as I called it) we hit the highway. Hopefully there will be another ONE Night Stand next year. North Dakota could use more events like this.

Album Review: Hesitation Marks by Nine Inch Nails

The primary point of this review is a thought I've arrived at only through hindsight. I too rent my garment and plucked the hair off my head and beard when I heard that Nine Inch Nails was going on hiatus. I wailed and carried on like a newborn child, I'm not afraid to say it. What's worse is that I'm only slightly exaggerating. It was a rough few days for me. But on the eve of their return with the new album Hesitation Marks, I'm struck by a notion, one that has left me feeling like a fool.

Nine Inch Nails not only never did go away, I don't think it really can.

There are quite a few Reznor works that Hesitation Marks can be compared to, I've called it the sequel to With Teeth on more than a few occasions, but one of, if not the primary comparison has to be to The Social Network soundtrack. Production wise, the two sound incredibly similar. It was upon realizing this that I realized my treatment of the hiatus as akin to, say, the Disturbed hiatus was incorrect. Whether it's under the Nine Inch Nails name, or his own, or even How to Destroy Angels, Trent Reznor's unique sonic imprint comes through in all of his work. For some, this will kill their interest in the new album immediately. I've seen the backlash forming to his soundtrack work and the relative lack of interest in How to Destroy Angels, to say nothing of the people who gave up on NIN before it went away. Personally, my interest had waned but never gone away, and this is the most focused and vibrant Reznor project since With Teeth (see?). Reznor's been on record in interviews as describing the sound as similar to the older material, and I disagree with that, but I don't mean that as a slam. I don't need another Downward Spiral personally, I just wanted a good Nine Inch Nails album, and this fits that in my opinion, as well as being the next step in the overall growth of the mastermind behind the band.

I really can't understand why Reznor would throw a statement like that out into the press knowing what he was sitting on in terms of material. For one thing, he's still using drum machines, a controversial move to some, just ask Burton Bell and Dino Cazares. A number of formidable drummers have been a part of touring lineups for NIN in the past including Josh Freese and even Dave Grohl, but I understand that the way Reznor works in the studio probably makes drum machines a bit more helpful. Along with production partners Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, Trent has developed a very clean and potent sound and style for NIN's studio releases and Hesitation Marks only forwards that trend. The album sounds incredibly complex and that's just through a pair of earbuds or tiny speakers. I can't even imagine what this would sound like in some of the audiophile friendly formats.

Beyond the technical, the songwriting, instead of going backwards, has gone even farther . There's much more variety in general than I think there ever has been on a NIN release. Everything is the closest to upbeat that this band has probably ever gotten, although a closer look at the lyrics will bring that back down for you. There are songs like that and album opener Copy of A that would likely inspire dancing at live shows and then songs like lead single Came Back Haunted and I Would For You that will fit right alongside aggressive and chaotic anthems like March of the Pigs and Wish. He may not be singing about feeling people from the inside or winning Grammys for songs featuring fist...well, you know, but the edge has been only slightly dulled if anything and definitely still cuts. There is still plenty of darkness in the man's soul, and he continues to communicate that beautifully. It's my hope that the people who seem to be mistaking Trent Reznor's growth and maturity for him losing his edge will eat their words shortly, because I think this album is all the proof to the contrary that they need.