Review Summary: if you don't like this you're like the idiot on the cover who managed to get his stupid face on to a frying pan.
Primus is a rare breed; instead of being humorous in a self-parodying way like many bands that attempt humor through ridiculous lyrics, rather they attempt humor by making their music as weird as possible and hoping that the weirdness works out and fits together in a mind-numbingly hilarous way. Needless to say, they’ve had their successes and failures, and the failures hit home harder than a ball hit by Barry Bonds, but what works, does so in marvelous ways, both for the humor scouts and the musician.
Frizzle Fry, lyrically, is mostly self-shaming in its attempt to be funny, but it manages to work with the quirky yet proficient instrumental work.
As an album,
Frizzle Fry manages to succeed mostly in the instrumental playing abilities of the cast. Everything from Les Claypool’s murky, funky, heavy slaps that almost pushes the guitar out of the way and essentially plays the role of lead, Tim Alexander’s ability to go absolutely mad on the double bass kit and forget it even exists and provide a simple,consistent backing, or even the Larry Ladonde’s guitar playing; which switches from lowly hiding behind Les’s intricate bass playing, to shredding and occasional melodic metal riffing that manages to catch the ear of the listener. And unlike a lot of awkward teeny metal records today,
Frizzle Fry’s players actually like to work together, and the album sounds cohesive, at least from the outside.
What flaws Primus here, however, is the fact some of the songs sound more like jams than actual songs. The other flaw, which also has to do with songs, is the fact when Primus actually tries to write SONGS instead of jams, they usually fall flat on their faces. “To Defy the Laws of Tradition” manages to mix both structure and precise and excellent jam-ability with Les’s vocals and oddly conscious yet hilarious lyrics. Other than that and the double bass madness of “Spaghetti Western”, a lot of the songs are a mixed bag, ranging from slightly above average to meh and varying wildly between songs. For example, “Too Many Puppies”, although more simple instrumentally than anything else on the album, works because of it’s hilarious concept that puppies could be anything other than puppies, while “Groundhog’s Day” manages to put the listener to sleep before they even get a chance to hear the incredibly impressive bridge.
Frizzle Fry, despite songwriting and jammy inconsistencies, manages to sound much more cohesive and overall a better record than anything else Primus has released or would release in the future. Truthfully, it’s kind of disappointing, but they have a few more good albums under their belt. Before you check those out; however, any good listener should check this out first.
