Review Summary: The latest full length LP from Mindless self indulgence delivers what we all love about them. Eclectic beats, Jimmy Urine's ever so versatile voice, and more foul mouthed and juvenile humor than anyone knows what to do with. Now that they've souped up t
The latest release from Mindless Self Indulgence has to be one of their most forceful albums since they released
Tight back at the beginning of their career. The band as a whole has definitely experienced some growth since their previous release (
Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy) both in terms of their sound and the length of their tracks (all but one of the songs actually goes past 2 minutes. A HUGE step for these guys). The album itself just feels much fuller in the way that only a 4 year break from the studio can produce. That of course is not to say that they haven't retained all of those wonderful qualities that make them MSI, but they definitely had the time to sit around and think about ways to expand and this album is the result.
What is most notable is the increased presence of Steve Righ? on guitar and Lynn Z on Bass. On past efforts, the guitar part probably ranked about fifth on the ladder of importance, right below the bass. Really, their past efforts all seemed to focus solely on Jimmy Urine's vocals and the electronically produced background parts, leaving the live instrumentation in the dust. With
You'll Rebel To Anything the band has really come together to form what feels like much more of a cohesive unit, working together to produce music, rather than being the backup band for Jimmy Urine and a sampling board.
The album begins with the crunching guitar intro to
Shut Me Up a track that just about anyone who is familiar with the band has heard by now. The lyrics are simple and border on the nonsensical as always, but being backed by the heavy instrumentation makes the venom spewing from Jimmy's mouth come out with just that much more bite.
1989 is a fantastic follow up featuring a little bit more melody, which is something in a slightly new direction for MSI. That isn't to say that they didn't use any melody before, but it always seemed to be more for an emphatically comedic effect, rather than as something to fit into the song structure. The first two tracks move at such a frantic pace that the next track,
Straight To Video is almost a necessity, with the largely keyboard oriented background and slower pacing keeping the album from either spiraling out of control or running the risk of blending together into one 28 minute track. Again, more melody is present in the main structure of this song with a much clearer tone from Jimmy and Steve Righ? bringing just the right amount of crunch to the bridges to keep the song from getting dull (as at over 3 minutes, it is one of the longest on the album).
Those of you familiar with MSI know that there is nothing they do better than put incredible twists on the most unlikely covers. This album contains just such an occasion with the next track,
Tom Sawyer, a cover of the classic
Rush song. Apart from the melody of the vocal line (an unavoidable necessity) the track sounds completely MSI. Not being a huge fan of Rush, actually, I didn't even realize it was a cover at first, just that there was something oddly familiar about the song. In spite of the originality of this track, however, it gets outshined by the rest of the album, so could probably be called the weakest track present.
The next track (
You'll Rebel To Anything (As Long As It's Not Complicated)) is easily the most overtly sarcastic song on the album. A classic MSI move is to mock their fanbase, but it is typically reserved for their live shows. On this track however, the mockery is right there, calling out all of the depressed hot topic goths as the frauds they are, complete with that Jimmy Urine falsetto that we love oh so much.
What Do They Know serves as a pseudo cool down, much like
Straight To Video although it vacillates between a dark and hollow electronica sound and the classic frantic MSI sound, so it isn't as much of a break, but still somewhat welcome.
Stupid MF is simply an example of MSI doing what they do best: being silly and vulgar to a sound every real music fan can love.
Two Hookers and an 8 Ball actually made an appearance on their previous effort
Alienating Our Audience, but it has been refined, cleaned up, and sounding better and more whole on this release. More frantic rap style vocals and a hard chorus line that is some of the most moshable and screamable music they've written. [b]Prom[b] is another silly MSI song with more blending of their old electronic sound combined with their new "band" sound. The album finishes off with
Bull***, a fantastic blend of the old and new with Jimmy flexing his vocal muscle all over the place and Steve, Lynn Z, and Kittie doing some of their catchiest song writing yet. The song is a fantastic way to conclude the album.
This is not just another Mindless Self Indulgence album, this signifies a step to a new plane for them. They haven't lost their sound (as a minute handful of people have claimed) they've made it bigger, harder, and faster, and I can't wait to hear what they do for us next.
