Nu-Metal

Scuzz Sundays: Papa Roach – ‘Between Angels and Insects’

May 1, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Infest’ (LP/Album) (Released on April 25th, 2000) (via DreamWorks/NPG Studios)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to pay a visit to one of the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past with a new weekly edition of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! In the past few weeks, we’ve tied our weekly throwbacks into some form of current affairs, such as this autumn’s re-union gig for Hard-Fi or the almost exact 20th anniversary of The Caesar’s ‘Love For The Streets’ album, and we’re continuing the same trend today. The Vacaville-formed Alternative Metal band Papa Roach released their eleventh studio album, ‘Ego Trip’, on April 8th to a fairly positive reception from critics. Therefore, we’re going to remind ourselves of one of their classic tracks today to fit the theme of ‘Scuzz Sundays’. Released in 2000 as the third single taken from their Triple Platinum-certified second LP ‘Infest’, ‘Between Angels and Insects’ reached #17 on the UK Singles Charts and it enjoyed a nice run on the radio airplay circuit in late Spring of 2001 after the music video had released. The album itself ventured into the buzz of the Nu-Metal and Rap-Rock genre elements of the time, and it debuted at #5 on the US Billboard 200 chart, additionally earning Papa Roach a Grammy Awards nomination for ‘Best New Artist’ to reflect this success. Find the Joseph Khan-directed video for ‘Between Angels and Insects’ below.

In a SongFacts interview with Papa Roach’s Tobin Esperance, it was revealed how the track took inspiration from ‘Fight Club’, as he noted, “The lyric in the bridge section was taken from the conversation that Brad Pitt was having with Edward Norton on the airplane“, in the piece. ‘Between Angels and Insects’ remains a live favourite for Papa Roach too, as Esperance also told SongFacts it was “Definitely still a really fun song to play live. That song definitely goes off“, in 2011 as well. The title of ‘Between Angels and Insects’ doesn’t appear lyrically, but there’s an implication that human morality sits between angel and insect – the divine and the primitive – in other words. Lyrics like “There’s no money, there’s no possession, only obsession” and “You can find a conclusion, lifestyle and obsession/Diamond rings get you nothing but a life long lesson” are centered around greed, implying that money just can’t solve your deeper psychological issues, with the verses and the chorus commenting on how the base desires like possessions bring us further from angels and closer to insects. The steady drums, the Rap-Rock rhythms of the vocals and the thunderous guitar riffs, with a heavy but largely melodic Pop-Punk skew, feel rather typical of the time and the instrumentation does not feel different to many of the Grunge-inflicted rock songs of the album’s era, but it feels quite nostalgic twenty years later and it can remind you of how your life may have been at the time. While the chords feel rather unoriginal, there is still some decently thought through commentary here on how we value our possessions and how striving for things we feel are positive can lead to negative impacts like addiction, and these themes never really overstay their welcome despite seeming quite universal. The band’s accompanying melodies for the lead vocals push the metaphorical boat into stormier seas, while the main bulk of the instrumentation adds just enough differentiation from other Papa Roach tracks such as ‘Last Resort’ or ‘…To Be Loved’ without affecting the formula that has been laid out for it. Overall, I don’t feel this is a masterpiece, as the lyrics and progression feel a little bland and generic, but there are elements of greatness here. The songwriting works well, and the instrumentation is solid. This is probably not a Last Resort for your Papa Roach fix.

Pictured: Papa Roach performing ‘Last Resort’ at the Reading & Leeds Music Festival (2014) (Photo via BBC Music)

You can check out some of my previously published Papa Roach-related posts below:

‘Last Resort’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/07/26/scuzz-sundays-papa-roach-last-resort/

‘…To Be Loved‘ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/11/21/scuzz-sundays-papa-roach-to-be-loved/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Paramour Sessions’ (LP) (Released on September 12th, 2006) (via Geffen Records)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you for joining me, and we’ll be kicking off a new week’s worth of posts as well as the new month’s worth of posts – you lucky reader. It begins with a fun and chilled summer-themed new single by a Norwegian singer-songwriter who has released eight studio albums and created his self-titled full-length record, released in 2011, in a short yet intense time period of three weeks. The single in question features the talents of Japanese Pop project CHAI.

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Scuzz Sundays: Avenged Sevenfold – ‘Afterlife’

February 20, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Avenged Sevenfold’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on October 30, 2007) (via Hopeless Records)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into the text of Jacob Braybrooke, as we pay a visit (Rather literally, in the case of this track’s title) to one of the ghosts of Pop-Punk past for another weekly iteration of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on One Track At A Time, the blog where I simply write up about a different piece of music every day! Known for their eclectic Nu-Metal sound and the theatrical imagery of their promotional artwork, one heavy rock band who were hard to miss during the 2000’s and 2010’s was Avenged Sevenfold, a band who were formed in Huntington Beach, California in 1999. Still recording new material regularly today, the band have released seven studio albums of which they have sold over 8 million units worldwide, and they have even created four original tracks for the soundtracks of the ‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops’ series – for any video game lovers out there. They were also ranked as #47 on Loudwire’s list of their Top 50 Metal Bands Of All-Time in 2018. Released in 2007, ‘Afterlife’ was taken from Avenged Sevenfold’s self-titled album – that was actually their fourth studio LP – and it was their last album to feature the solid drummer ‘The Rev’ before he sadly passed away two years later during the production of 2010’s ‘Nightmare’. Give it a spin below.

The album debuted at #4 on the US Billboard 200 Album Chart and it was later included in Kerrang’s list of their “666 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die” as well as winning the Kerrang! award for Best Album in 2008. Meanwhile, the single – ‘Afterlife’ – was released with a music video that was directed by Wayne Isham, who had previously shot videos for Bon Jovi and Judas Priest. You can hear it on the ‘NHL 09’ video game soundtrack and it was voted as the best song of the new album on the band’s homepage upon its release, and so there’s absolutely no pressure for ‘Afterlife’ to hold up to quality and value in the present day, of course. It becomes clear that the lyrics are all about a man who dies at an early time and goes to heaven, but realizes that he has unfinished business to finish on Earth before his soul passes away, and we are essentially getting a soundtrack for that journey. The uptempo guitar riffs open the track immediately, with the lead guitar paving the way for the narrative to shine through ahead of a fantastic guitar solo in the final act of the structure. The lead vocals have a gear-switching flair with some sequences diving between a feeling of innocence and vengeance, and some harsher sequences that contrast the warmer lyrics with a punchy and energetic feeling. The lead-in to the chorus raises the tempo again after a mildly subdued stretch of instrumentation, where the tone of the vocals were a little more somber and pained, with some brief backing vocals and a bridge towards the main guitar solo that lays out the pacing neatly. The solo is 80’s schlock, but it’s done with a technical competence and it works well because of the track’s fast-paced nature. The more theatrical conclusion to the final act introduces some short Violin sections to the track, as the Strings signal the arrival of our protagonist to the gates of heaven and his subsequent departure to the living world as there’s still much for him to do there. It’s great that we follow a narrative of-sorts with the track, and I have to say that I rather enjoyed it. The vocals are a little cheesy at points where we cycle past the questionable accents and it veers slightly towards a 00’s radio rock commercial appeal, but I felt the guitar solo was very enjoyable and it was nice to hear Avenged Sevenfold moving away from their imitations of influences like Iron Maiden and going for a more individual direction with the story in the process. A little on-the-nose, but this was perfectly enjoyable and it has a couple of progressive ideas.

Pictured: M. Shadows (Lead Vocals/Piano/Percussion), Zacky Vengeance (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Johnny Christ (Bass Guitar), Synster Gates (Lead Guitar) & Brooks Wackerman (Drums) (2016) (Photo by WikiCommons.org)

That’s all that I’ve got lined up for you with today’s edition of ‘Scuzz Sundays’, and I thank you very much for continuing to support the blog every day because it really means a lot to me. Normal service will be resuming again tomorrow as we kick off the new week with some brand new music from a Cheshire-based female indie rock trio who I have actually spoken to in the flesh when they supported The Orielles at The Sugar Mill in Stoke-On-Trent in early 2020. Their debut LP is set to get released in May.

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Scuzz Sundays: Bullet For My Valentine – ‘Scream Aim Fire’

January 16, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Scream Aim Fire’ (LP) (Released on 28th January, 2008) (via Jive/20-20 Entertainment)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to totally not ‘Jump The Gun’ with our weekly throwback to the Pop-Punk of the past for another installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on One Track At A Time, given that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Since forming in Bridgend in 1998 and later securing a high-stakes five album deal with Sony/BMG in 2002, the Welsh alternative rock outfit of Bullet For My Valentine have sold over 3,000,000 albums worldwide and they have made several appearances at top rock festivals like Download Festival and Kerrang! XXV over the course of two decades of cultural currency. Part of the Cardiff music scene, the band have also undertaken a US tour with Rob Zombie and have earned the distinction of being the most successful band in the category of ‘Best British Band’ given by the Kerrang! Awards with three wins. At the time when they were just hitting their crossover commercial peak, the Metallica-influenced rock band released the follow-up to their debut album – 2005’s ‘The Poison’ – which was certified as Gold by the RIAA in the US – in the form of 2008’s ‘Scream Aim Fire’. It was still a huge seller in the UK with over 1,400,000 copies sold there – but the style of the material was noticeably less scream-core related than ‘The Poison’, but had a harsher shine on the instrumentation that meandered towards Thrash Metal. The title track was the lead single and it is their highest-charting track globally. Let’s watch the Tony Petrossian-directed video below.

As you may have guessed by the images of conflict being displayed on the large screens throughout the video, which are cut between Matt Tuck’s vocal performance and the mostly pure band performance, the lyrics for ‘Scream Aim Fire’ were written about “going to war” as Tuck has explained during live sets, with the shouted refrain of “Over the top” mirroring a reference to the trench warfare of the first World War of the 1910’s. It was not expected to be a huge hit for Bullet For My Valentine, but Tuck reflected on the song’s success during a feature with LOUDER in 2020 by saying, “That moment in time was, looking back now, super-special, very vibrant, competitive and healthy. I didn’t realise it at the time, but looking back, it was an amazing time to be in a metal band” while also complementing the similar success found by peers like Bring Me The Horizon and Avenged Sevenfold. Going for a classic rock, very frenetic and thrash-like metal flair on ‘Scream Aim Fire’, Bullet For My Valentine immediately hit the ground running with a hyper speed concoction of highly frenzied guitar riffs and very technical drum notes that builds a platform for the more melodic vocals to come through clearly. Bleak lyrics like “Wounds are hurting, death is creeping for me” and “Hearts are pounding, chaos soon ignites” are interspersed with a hyperactive cocktail of In Flames and Slayer in terms of comparable sounds. Originality does take a backseat here, but the band settles into a more contemporary identity with the Chino Moreno-isms and the harrowing shed-fest of the main guitar solo in the latter stretch. It feels a little over-bearing, but it never comes across as far too ‘cheesy’ or ‘pretentious’ by any real means. While the formula is full of sounds that emit a lot of noise, the instrumentation is actually very technical and balances out the more customary feel of the blackened death-core arms race of the slightly ‘hokey’ lyrics. While the lyrics themselves may not say much outside of their surface value, they still create a sense of gloom that builds up some tension and atmosphere in the delivery. The mainstream influences are in here, but it certainly calls back to Metal bands like Queensrÿche and Iron Maiden with a decent sense of taste and conviction. Overall, while it’s not a complete home run for me, as the lyrics feel a little generic and there’s nothing really groundbreaking here, it hasn’t aged badly at all and the band carry an aura of poise and sincerity to them by delivering crowd-pleasing and high-energy speedcore that is technically rewarding and boasts some quality musicianship. It feels skillfully aimed towards pre-existing fans who were hungry for solid new material and not necessarily new sounds and in that sense, its tricky to fault what has been served.

Pictured: Matthew “Matt” Tuck (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Synths), Michael “Padge” Paget (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Jamie Mathias (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Jason Bowld (Drums) (2022) (Photo via Ticketmaster.com)

That brings us to the end of today’s breakdown about Bullet For My Valentine! Thank you for your time today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to start off a new week’s worth of posts. The first one features a London-based musician and street artist who is the founder of HIJINXX and she’s hosted radio shows for NTS Radio and Radio Primavera.

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Today’s Track: Calva Louise – ‘Euphoric’

December 28, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘EUPHORIC’ (LP) (Released on August 20, 2021) (via FRKST Records/300 Entertainment)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and thanks for joining me today as we fill up the awkward post-Christmas and pre New Year’s slot with some music that got a little underrated during 2021 with yet another daily track on the blog, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Formed in 2016, Calva Louise are a Manchester-based indie punk and post-grunge band who take their influence from many variations of Noise-Rock and Synth-Punk between both UK and US outfits, while also getting in touch with their Latin Rock heritage throughout the two albums to their name so far. Fronted by the bold creative vision of vocalist/guitarist Jess Allanic – the trio have supported the likes of Razorlight, Highly Suspect and Albert Hammond Jr in their time together. Earlier in the year, they released the ambitious multi-media project of ‘EUPHORIC’, which was fronted by a concept album about the duality of being human and the different perceptions of reality. The band have stated that the lyrics detail episodes of the dreamer’s experiences in the form of an inner conversation with his other self – the counterpart of the human being – that seeks to experience freedom and have an encounter with the unknown. The sophomore album was produced and mixed by Bobby Bentham of Strange Bones fame. Moreover, the album was accompanied by a 45-minute Animation short film that was entirely created by Jess Allanic, who used software like After Effects and Blender to bring the Graphic Novel-inspired visuals of her band’s creative record to life. For now, let’s have a sample of the title track below.

Released digitally in late August and finally manufactured on physical vinyl copies in December by Blood Records, Calva Louise collectively say, “Our passion for audiovisual production is constantly intertwined with the concept of the album and that is why each new step to take becomes a new challenge, it is as if each completed experience gradually reveals the signs that guide us on our way”, noting, “The perception we have of this adventure shows us horizons that seem to be beyond our rational understanding as artists, and in order to see clearly we try to express these experiences through visual effects, as a complement to the music and the lyrics of the songs”, to their LP’s product description. ‘EUPHORIC’ feels like an expository title for the project, bolstered by a title track that is filled with meaty hooks and soaring melodies that hints about how you may feel after completely listening to the album in a single bingeable session. With eruptive drumming and partially processed vocal peaks, lyrics like “I wait in line, Your head is on fire, Ahead we cry in a simple way” and “When you and me are nothing, Only one of us will be euphoric” that set a fiery temper for the underground feel of the track, Allanic powerfully backs her vocals to some thrashing electronic melodies – including some gradually bubbling Synth riffs in the opening that become more acidic throughout the first verse – and some old-school Punk personality that complements the moody tone of the lyrics. The vocals are partially screamed at different intersections, but the pacing is fairly even, as Allanic uses some slower guitar notes towards the end to give the vocals just a little space to breathe. Meanwhile, the electronic production of the single goes heavy and hard by trading some twinkling keyboard riffs for a hefty amount of grit instead, with plenty of glitchy bass riffs that sweep in for a futuristic tone and Allanic concentrates hard on making her ferocious vocals feel as knife-edge as she can, and she even recites some non-English language lyrics towards the latter half to remind us of her Venezuelan upbringing, and the heavy dancehall influence of this particular touch reminds me of Arca in a few ways, especially with the audio-visual medium of the project hanging in the balance. Overall, while the more Noise-Rock based riffs get a little repetitive at times there is no doubt that Calva Louise explore decent ideas on this project altogether. It is very interesting to see the band expressing their ideas with intriguing ways by leaning into the sci-fi themes that audio-visual side projects can enhance for them. As well as giving them a unique selling point, it gives them more space to create their art, and I certainly like how there is more than just music to this. The sound, meanwhile, is an energetic one that becomes very unrelenting and combines qualities from Nu Metal and Prog Rock with dramatic results. Overall, this is an exciting band and a fresh project that, while not perfect, are certainly worth a look.

Pictured: Jess Eastwood (Vocals/Guitar), Alizon Taho (Bass Guitar) and Ben Parker (Drums) (2021) (Photo via PR)

That’s all for now – and thank you for reading about the euphoric melodies highlighted in today’s post. I’ll be back tomorrow with more content that concerns an operatic Conneticut-based indie rock band with one of the longest names in the business. Their discography includes a key collaboration with the Spoken Word artist Christopher Zizzamia – and their influences include Battles and Explosions In The Sky.

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Scuzz Sundays: Papa Roach – ‘…To Be Loved’

November 21, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Paramour Sessions’ (LP) (Released on Sept 12th, 2006) (via Geffen Records)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to remember another of the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past that dwindled after the late-90’s to the mid-00’s into a pile of ash for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! In a similar vein to last week’s entry on Hoobastank, Papa Roach have also been covered for the ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature once before, but it was published over a year ago. ‘Last Resort’ earned a fairly ‘meh’ reception from me, and so it’s time to see if some of their later work can redeem things. Formed in Vacacille, California in 1993 when lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix and drummer Dave Buckner came across each other on the Vacaville High School college football pitch and they bonded over their shared love for music. Known for hits like ‘Last Resort’ and ‘Between Angels and Insects’, as well as Gold-certified albums such as 2002’s ‘Lovehatetragedy’ and the triple platinum-certified LP release ‘Infest’ from two years prior, the Pop-Grunge group are also well-known for composing ‘To Be Loved’, which was originally featured as the theme tune for WWE’s ‘Monday Night Raw’ programme that was used between 2006 and 2009. It was the opening single of 2006’s ‘The Paramour Sessions’, which was titled as a reference to The Paramour Mansion, where the album was recorded. Dedicated to the memory of Shaddix’s step grandfather, who committed suicide that year, following a diagnosis of an unspecified form of terminal cancer, the record is a departure in sound for the band, as it trends into more of a Hard Rock sound instead of Nu-Metal like the group’s previous releases. Let’s revisit the album’s most popular single below.

In it’s late-00’s heyday, ‘To Be Loved’ slowly ascended to the #8 position of the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #14 in the Modern Rock Tracks charts that have been compiled by Billboard in the US, and it has been memorably used during the theatrical trailer for the 2008 film ‘Never Back Down’, which was directed by Jeff Wadlow (‘Kick-Ass 2’, ‘Bloodshot’) and boasted a star studded cast that included the likes of Amber Heard, Sean Faris and Djimon Honsou. Throughout the track, Shaddix promises he’s “Taking it back to the hardcore level” with some big vocal hooks and some jangly lead guitar riffs, marking a slight tease into the band’s older Rap Metal sound with a light Hip-Hop introduction that goes into something more distorted and alike to an uncontrollable frenzy, with a post-bridge that shouts ‘Screamo’ movement in a not-so subtle nature. Lyrics like “I want domination/I want your submission” and “I’ve gotta roll the dice/Never look back and never think twice” are what you would expect considering it was used for a long-running WWE TV product at one point, and the instrumentation fits the chaotic nature of the vocals with tight Drum riffs and upbeat guitar riffs. There’s some light use of snares, but they are paper thin. This feels water-tight on the whole in terms of sequencing, however, with a fast pace that never really lets up and an enthusiastic vocal performance that blends into the aggressive melodies decently enough. Overall, if you were looking for the pinnacle example of what a ‘Scuzz TV’ song was, this is the one. It is cheesy, an obvious crossover track with Pop elements, and a riotously paced single with some cheap lyrics. While I can’t comment on whether I believe it is Papa Roach’s best work, as I haven’t listened to enough of their own discography to get a full picture of that award, I thought this was fine overall. It is what it is. Disposable, but fun and it got the job done reasonably well.

Pictured: Papa Roach performing at the Reading & Leeds Music Festival (2014) (Photo via BBC Music)

If you really want to check out some of Papa Roach’s other more well-known past material, allow my prior post pertaining to Papa Roach to be your ‘Last Resort’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/07/26/scuzz-sundays-papa-roach-last-resort/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Infest’ (LP) (Released on April 25th, 2021) (via DreamWorks/NPG Studios)

That’s all for today! Thank you for joining me for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, and I’ll be back tomorrow with another regular blog post in the long lead up to the ‘Countdown To Christmas’ rush! This time, it will come from a New York-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist who has released three studio albums and a 7″ single. Digital Trends included 2018’s ‘You, Forever’ in their list of their best albums that year.

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Scuzz Sundays: Slipknot – “Duality”

October 3, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Corey Taylor (Lead Vocals), Mick Thomson (Lead Guitar), Shawn Crahan (Percussion/Art Director/Photographer), Craig Jones (Keyboard), Jim Root (Bass Guitar), Chris Fehn (Backing Vocals), Paul Gray (Backing Vocals), Joey Jordison (Drums/Mixing) & Sid Wilson (Turntables) (2019) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for us to listen to some quite un-church like music before we head to church for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, the part of the week where we revisit some of the ghosts of Pop-Punk and Nu-Metal’s past. This is Spooky Season – after all. One band from the late-90’s to mid-00’s who fits that bill is Slipknot, the Iowa-based Alternative Metal band fronted by Corey Taylor, who once appeared on an episode of BBC Two’s ‘QI’ on UK television and seemed like a likeable guy all-around, to be fair. Slipknot still seem to be immensely popular, scoring a UK number one album with ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ as recently as 2019. One of the most interesting albums to come from the crossover stars is ‘Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses’, a record that deals with “the healing process” of the band’s themes of decay and decapitation from the previous record. To meet these ends, Slipknot changed their style very discreetly by incorporating more traditional, melodic song structures as well as brooding guitar solo’s and a splattering of acoustic instrumentals. The album was a large success, despite the band’s initial unproductive struggles over the record, where Taylor was found drinking heavily to comfort some very personal issues. The record was praised by AllMusic for its “dedication to making it a Slipknot album” and Kerrang’s readers rated it as 31st in a poll of ‘The 50 Best Albums Of The 21st Century” taken in 2009. One of the best-received singles was ‘Duality’, which peaked at #5 on the US Rock Chart and Slipknot’s record label, Roadrunner Records, listed the music video for the single as the best one in their history in 2010. Refresh your mind below.

Slipknot have now found pretty staggering crossover success with combined sales of reportedly up to 30 million records globally, but these metrics didn’t always seem to be within their mask-wearing grasp. Until ‘Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses’ was issued in 2004, Slipknot’s future seemed bleak. Taylor’s battles with alcoholism worsened over the years, and the other members of Slipknot decided to work on a few side projects – like Stone Sour, Murderdolls and To My Surprise – but the band eventually decided to enlist Rick Rubin as the producer of their album and cracked down to work in the studio together, before releasing ‘Duality’ as the comeback single. ‘Duality’ felt like a volatile soft-reboot for Slipknot at the time, giving them a harsher edge and a more catchy sound, while appreciating the raw style of their prior work. The guitar riffs are sharp and disjointed enough without feeling clunky, and the Spoken Word style of the verses is quite intriguing since it gives refrains like “I have screamed until my veins collapsed/I’ve waited as my time’s elapsed” and “Tell me the reality is better than the dream/But I found out the hard way, nothing is what it seems” a vibe of toxicity and a feel of cinematic dark poetry that does stick out a little more compared to their contemporary peers of the era. Taylor uses a grumbling, dark croaking vocal delivery to complement the down-tuned, screeching guitar riffs and emphasize the horror atmosphere of the percussion. I think that it is easy to find their costumes and masks to take things a little too far for some audiences, but I don’t mind that aspect of their live performances and general visuals too much since it shows me they can simply be bothered to create a compelling visual companion piece to the art they create, and that is enough for me. On the whole, while I can’t say that I’ve ever really cared for Slipknot by a great amount, I really enjoyed my time with ‘Duality’, and not really in a ‘guilty pleasure’ way that plagues some releases. I felt there was plenty of genuinely well-crafted material here. The chorus was sharp and filled with some very punchy hooks that feel melodic enough, but fits the terrifying and gory imagery of Slipknot overall. There’s a couple of well-written lyrics here that match poetry with pain, and the extra layers of tension are paced decently, with the more subdued vocal style of the verses being counteracted with a more patented style later on with some solid guitar work that creates a surge of tense rhythms for the chorus. A spiked thumbs up!

  • Pictured: Slipknot in an official photoshoot for ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ (2019) (Photo via PR/NME.com)

As one of the more popular US heavy metal bands of our time, Slipknot have been worthy of a mention on ‘Scuzz Sundays’ before, albeit over a year and a half ago. Still, if you want more content, you can find out what I thought of ‘Before I Forget’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/23/scuzz-sundays-slipknot-before-i-forget/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Vol. 3 The Subliminal Verses’ (LP) (May 2004) (via Roadrunner Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your continued support regarding the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to kick off another week’s worth of daily music picks. Join me for an in-depth look at a British Columbia-born singer-songwriter who, after working as a restaurant line chef in his teens, turned to a life of music where he played with Jason Corbett in Speed To Kill. He is now known for his bob wig and androgynous make-up.

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Scuzz Sundays: Puddle Of Mudd – “She Hates Me”

September 12, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Come Clean’ (LP) (Released on August 28th, 2021) (via Flawless/Geffen Records)

Good Morning to you! It is Jacob Braybrooke here, and it sure looks like we have quickly reached the end of the week and so that means, for the blog, it is time for another entry in our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library, where we relive or cringe along to the Pop-Punk hits of the angsty adolescent times of our lives, not forgetting that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Puddle Of Mudd were a Post-Grunge-meets-Hard Rock band who were formed in Kansas City, Missouri during the early 90’s and, to date, they since went on to have a string of #1 singles in Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the US. They are still active today, having released another studio album, ‘Welcome To Galvania’, in 2019. They also have one EP, an independent album and five studio albums to their name, and so it seems quite surprising that Puddle Of Mudd have never made an appearance on my throwback feature until now. The band have also faced a share of downs amongst their ups, including their lead vocalist – Wes Scantlin – being hit with allegations of lip syncing during live performances since 2012 and some controversy surrounding a feud with their former connection, Fred Durst, which turned sour in the early 00’s, although the band still appreciate how he has initially aided them on their way to gaining attention in the industry. ‘She Hates Me’ was taken from their debut album, ‘Come Clean’, which has sold its way to over five milllion copies and it has been certified Platinum three times following its release in 2001, and you should probably recognize the famous LP cover artwork that was created by photographer Kate Schermerhorn. Released as a single in 2002, ‘She Hates Me’ reached the Top 20 of the singles charts in Austria, the UK, US, Ireland and Australia. Give it a spin below.

Originally titled as ‘She F***ing Hates Me’ for its initial release as a track on their debut album, this profanity-filled Nu-Metal tune continued the group’s rising popularity in the US, having peaked at #13 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, and it also reached the very top spot of Billboard’s Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for one week in late 1992, becoming Puddle Of Mudd’s second single to sell over 500,000 copies alone in their native country. It was also the group’s third top 20 hit in the UK, and it also won an ASCAP Pop Music Award in 2004. Kicking off with a bright acoustic guitar strum that sounds just like ‘Summer Nights’ from the musical ‘Grease’ to my ears, Scantlin swings for a Southern Blues sound with his husky voice, starting with lyrics like “Met a girl, thought she was grand/Fell in love, Found out first hand” which feel optimistic, before changing his tone to recite lyrics of a more grizzled nature as his romantic experience takes the turn for the worse, with lyrics like “In a trap, trip I can’t grip/Never thought I’d be the one who’d slip” in the later verse, before he shouts his way to angry hooks like “She tore my feelings like I had none/and ripped them away” atop a serve of lightly distorted bass guitar riffage during the chorus. What you see is basically what you get, with a straightforward sense of navigation through a sour summer romance of an angsty adolescent age during the large bulk of the track, as super slap-dash lyrics like “Went well for a week or two/Then it all came unglued” and “She was queen for about an hour/After that, s**t got sour” take centre stage, with the track’s original sweary title being very badly blurred out in the chorus of the edited single version that we just heard today. It all sounds clunky and cumbersome, on the whole, as there’s simply no detail to the lyrics at all and very little character development as a whole. We know that his former interest hates him – but why? Probably because he makes songs like this that makes barely any logical sense and poorly borrows ideas from the likes of Kurt Cobain, and ‘Grease’ of all things, to a blatant degree. I hate to say it, but I thought it was awful, overall. There’s sadly not much of a unique selling point here, and the lyrics are quite horrendous. The more Country-inspired vocals were certainly alright, but the instrumentation felt very bland otherwise, and the tune as an overall package just fell flat for me in the process, and there’s sadly little fun to be had here. A memory from the era that I’d rather not relive.

  • Pictured: Wes Scantlin (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Acoustic Guitar), Matt Fuller (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Michael John Adams (Bass Guitar) and Dave Moreno (Drums) (2019) (Photo by WeGow.com)

That’s all for now, and thank you very much for joining me, as always. I’ll be back tomorrow for business as usual, and a far more positive revelation of new music, as we divert our attention to the new album from the solo project of a Montreal-born Alternative R&B singer-songwriter who used to be a part of Mac DeMarco’s touring band – and he released his debut solo album as a cassette via Fixture Records in 2013.

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Scuzz Sundays: P.O.D. – “Youth Of The Nation”

July 4, 2021 — Leave a comment

This one was featured as DLC in ‘Guitar Hero 5’ and ‘Rock Band 3’. It’s Scuzz Sunday…

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Satellite” (Released on September 11th, 2001) (via Atlantic Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – and you know that it’s the time of the week where we delve back into one of the Pop-Punk hits of the past, all in the name of Scuzz TV, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! An interesting story surrounds ‘Youth Of A Nation’ by the Christian Nu-Metal band P.O.D. – as the track’s inspiration comes from a trip where the spiritual Rap-Rockers were on a trip to a recording studio to record it’s associated album, ‘Satellite’, and the quartet were caught in a traffic jam. The reason for it was a school shooting at Santana high-school where a 15-year-old boy, Charles Andrew Williams, killed two and wounded thirteen. The tragic events and the press coverage of the situation inspired vocalist Sonny Sandoval and the producers to write ‘Youth Of The Nation’ when the album was consequently delayed. Released in 2001, as a single, the tune reached the top spot of the Modern Rock Chart and #6 on the Mainstream Rock Chart in the US. To date, P.O.D. have sold over five million albums worldwide, and they composed the theme tune for WWE’s Rey Mysterio. Spin it below.

P.O.D.’s guitarist Marcos Curiel recalled in a 2008 interview, “We were rehearsing and writing ‘Satellite’ a couple of blocks away from the school. On the way to the studio, there were all these helicopters and cars speeding by. We really didn’t know what was going on. When we got to the studio, this guy had the news on, and he was like, “This kid just went and started blasting fools”, so we started jamming, and that rhythm just naturally came out, then Wuv put that drum beat on, and the song was born”, as he told the Juiced Sports blog. Sometimes, with a song, it becomes an alive and breathing entity once it has unleashed on the world, with continued relevance as new cultural events develop. The tune is also divided into three sections: The first tells the story of a teenager who was shot when skating to school, the next depicts a girl called “Little Suzie” who is “finding love in all the wrong places” after being abandoned by her father, and the third depicts a boy called “Johnny Boy” who fails to fit in with his peers and ultimately commit suicide after a string of mental health disorders, as the band explore an overarching narrative of misplaced youth and unloved teens. It’s heartbreaking and heavy, but it’s also bold as the band pose a question that demonized youth in the press can be instead seen as damaged souls who require help. Instrumentally, we’re looking at a Linkin Park-like mix of theatrical synths, a lightly distorted guitar rhythm, and drums that pay no attention to subtlety. There’s also a hip-hop flow to the lyrics, which reminds me of Hamilton for the most part. It’s also playing out quite similarly to Cypress Hill in the ways it addresses serious issues through a dramatic narrative. The lyrics would probably come across as controversial to many as it humanizes school shooters, particularly through it’s backing vocals comprised of children’s singing. On the other hand, I admire the bravery and their fresh approach to the topic. The band never hesitate to roll out the stadium sound of the electric drum kit for the chorus either, and the guitars/drums combo sound really nice here because they sound Blues-inspired and harsh. On the whole, it fumbles around a little towards the end with differing tones on the melodies that clash a little, but it’s pretty enjoyable stuff, all things considered. It has it’s core message, and it still brings unique ideas to the table with it’s lyrics. A hardened version of their 00’s peers.

  • Pictured: Sonny Sandoval (Lead Vocals), Traa Daniels (Bass Guitar/Unclean Vocals), Marcos Curiel (Lead Guitar/Programming/Backing Vocals) and Wuv Bernado (Drums/Rhythm Guitar) (2003) (via PR)

If you’re still feeling ‘Alive’ enough for some more P.O.D. on the blog, feel free to check out my previous review for the aforementioned hit here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/28/scuzz-sundays-p-o-d-alive/

  • Pictured: CD for ‘Youth Of The Nation’ (Single) (Released on November 27, 2001) (via Atlantic Records)

Well, you’ve reached the end of the page for today! Please feel free to join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at some brand new music from a new all-female Post-Punk trio who are making their debut appearance on the blog. The three ladies will be supporting Yard Act on tour, along with Baba Ali, in the autumn of this year in the UK.

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Scuzz Sundays: Three Days Grace – “Riot”

May 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

You may want to read this before Neil Sanderson gets violent again. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Adam Gontier (Lead Vocals), Barry Stock (Lead Guitar/Rhythm Guitar), Brad Walst (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Neil Sanderson (Drums/Keyboards) (2013) (Photo by Michael Muller)

Happy Scuzz Sunday to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and, as always, it’s time for me to deliver your weekly Scuzz Sundays throwback, where we revisit the Pop-Punk and the Mascara-coloured Rock ‘N’ Roll of the late 90’s-mid-00’s, to see if they hold up to quality today. I now realise that I probably should have planned something to do with Eurovision for yesterday’s post. However, since I’m writing from the UK, perhaps nobody would have read it. WAYYYYY! I mean, James Newman. Poor bloke. I feel very sorry for him today. ‘Embers’ probably wasn’t the best song, but it certainly was not that bad either. Newman seemed to be having a whale of a time, bless him, and, on TV, it didn’t look like it negatively affected him too much. That was very unkind for him, and so I have a lot of respect for him in dealing with the situation in the chilled way he did. For me, I liked the Russian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian and Icelandic entries the most. I enjoyed Belgium’s entry too because it reminded me of Hole and Garbage.

As you’re quite rightly thinking, that’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to take a look back at ‘Riot’, the fourth single taken from ‘One-X’, the second studio album from the Neil Sanderson-led Canadian Hard Rock band Three Days Grace. I have probably heard this one (Well, the clean edited version) about a hundred times now because it was heavily featured on the ‘WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007’ video game that I spent the large part of a year of my childhood with. Three Days Grace survived the guitar band explosion of the 00’s and their most recent release was 2018’s ‘Outsider’. When ‘Riot’ was released, the vocalist of the band was Adam Gontier, who helped to sell the band’s way to fifteen #1 songs on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the US. ‘One-X’ was a huge success for them, being certified Platinum three times in both the US and in Canada. It’s time for a blast from the past. Let’s start a ‘Riot’ below.

‘Riot’ was actually one of the few singles that Three Days Grace have ever released to contain profanities, and I can still remember how the F-bombs had been noticeably cut out of the version that played in the menu screens of my old, long lost wrestling video game for the Xbox 360 – two console generations ago. It was still a financial and critical success, however, and it landed a place at #21 on the Modern Rock charts, as a single, in the US. Beginning with it’s very familiar chugging bass guitar riff, Gontier sings: “If you feel so empty/So used up/So let down” and “If you feel so angry, So ripped off, so stepped on” as he seems to directly address the listener, as if he’s conducting a million-person marching protest on a terrorized street. The lyrics on ‘Riot’, as well as ‘One-X’ on the whole, were written about Adam Gontier’s frustrating experiences and his initial anger when he was taken to rehabiliation for an addiction to OxyContin, and so the vocals of ‘Riot’ feel similarly angry and tired, with lyrics that feel bitter and unpleasant overall. For the track’s chorus, Gontier lets loose on all the negative little things in life as he belts out his rage to a chant along-suited chorus of “Let’s start a Riot” after he comforts us a little with the refrain of “You’re not the only one, refusing to back down” as the guitar work gets a little more melodic, as our composure begins to shake, ready for the release of tension for the hooks in the chorus… and that’s basically it. The lyrics aren’t complicated at all, and the sum of it’s parts feel very easy and simple to understand. There’s nothing hugely creative about the concept, it’s just a fun bit of Rock ‘N’ Roll for your enjoyment when you feel in the right mood for it. You may fault the track’s lyrics as encouraging physical violence a little bit, but the mood of the instrumentation and the sharp delivery of the vocals cut the mustard of it. It thrives on simple teenage angst a little over-reliably, but it’s certainly one of the heaviest tracks that I can remember hearing from Three Days Grace, and I think the tone fits the subject matter like a glove. There’s a bit of a nice twist on the ‘feeling good’ and self-care of rehab-related song tropes in here, and the melodies have some well-paced energy to them overall, despite never getting overly aggressive to the point of Death Metal, which works for the better in this case, I think. Such a vivid foray into a hyper-heavy style wouldn’t make much sense. Overall, I think this mid-00’s tune holds up nicely. It’s not a masterpiece, admittedly, but I certainly enjoyed hearing it again. There’s something catchy to it, and I feel that it’s a lot of fun.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “One-X” (Album/LP) (Released on June 13, 2006) (via Jive Records)

That’s it for today! Thank you so much for the support. What were your favourite entries in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, or, how did the GM Mode go for you back then on ‘WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007’? Simply let me know in the comments section below. Tomorrow, we are going to be watching the new music video for a recent-ish single from a California-born Soul singer-songwriter who has been A-listed before on BBC Radio 6 Music. One of nine children in a big musical family – She cites herself as a student of Nina Simone, Mary J. Blige, Anita Baker, Dionna Warwick and more. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Marilyn Manson – “The Fight Song”

March 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

Let us take a walk on the wild – or, possibly, more like weird? – side. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Marilyn Manson (2017) (Photo Credit: Mauricio Santana/Getty Images/EW.com)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, writing from Stoke-On-Trent once again, and it’s time for our weekly blast from the past, as we re-evaluate one of the Pop-Punk classics from the Emo era around the late-1990’s through to the mid-2000’s, to see whether they can hold up to value among modern quality standards. Juxtaposing the names of golden age film star Marilyn Monroe and cult leader Charles Manson (two very different American cultural icons) for his stage alias and band, Ohio-based rock star Marilyn Manson always came across as more ‘Goth’ than ‘Emo’ to me, with politically charged music that points fingers at the American political systems and gun violence issues. In fact, he used to really freak me out as a child. However, he’s still one of the biggest artists from the era, with a large wave of multi-platinum and gold selling albums coming along with his wave of controversy. I know that Marilyn has been in the news recently, for the wrong reasons, and so I originally delayed this post after planning to do it for the Royal Rumble Sunday, solely because the title of ‘The Fight Song’ really fits the theme for the big multi-man match. So, I’m just going to judge the track purely for it’s quality to avoid sensitive material. ‘The Fight Song’ was released back in 2000 on his fourth studio LP, ‘Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death)’, which was a Rock-Opera concept album with an Industrial metal style and Glam Rock-influenced production akin to some of Manson’s earlier work. It had it’s share of controversy, no suprise there, but it’s still seen by publications like Kerrang! as some of his best work, who commented in 2010: “[It is] still scathingly relevant [and] a credit to a man who refused to sit and take it, but instead come out swinging.” for a retrospective. Let’s take the brass knuckles of ‘The Fight Song’ below.

Urgh… There’s something about that dude. Unsettling. Most recently, he’s been dabbling his paintbrush in a little bit of Art work, completing an art exhibition in 2017 of 20 paintings which he called ‘Genealogies of Pain’ with the famously off-his-rockers film director, David Lynch, which took place at the Kuntshalle gallery in Vienna. For ‘The Fight Song’ specifically, Manson voices his usual complaints by titling the track as a pun of the ‘fight songs’ that US football teams use as their theme tunes. Therefore, it becomes a post-Columbine statement disparaging the college traditions of the US, and America’s fandom for football being a metaphor for the country’s glorification of violence among the youth, in the case of Manson’s opinions. The track was a decent sized hit in the UK, reaching #24 in the Singles Charts over here. Performed as a direct address to the listener as his audience, Manson voices his grindings with bold lyrics like “Nothing suffocates you more/Than the passing of everyday human events” and “Isolation is the oxygen mask, You make your children breathe in to survive”, with heavy guitar riffs and quick drum signatures selling his feelings of anger and rage. It feels commercially suitable enough, however, with polished production and hooks like “So when we are bad, We’ll scar your minds” and “The death of one is a tragedy, The death of a million is just sadistic” that pop out a little. It’s very outspoken and direct, with a snarling vocal performance that complements the bitter qualities of the songwriting. The electric guitar riffs aren’t likely to change the world, but they keep the pace rolling at a fiery speed. The underlying themes are the use of tragic death as an exploitation for entertainment among the masses, with a couple of high-pitched wails and screams of which your mileage may vary on. Overall, although Manson is likely to always cause a share of controversy and has a very direct way of expressing his opinions that I can’t say I always agree with, I think one of the most important elements of making ‘good music’ has to be a message or expression formed within the fabric of the sound. ‘The Fight Song’ is a success in these regards, but he is just not a dude I’d want to hang out with.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Holy Wood (In The Shape Of The Valley Of Death” (2000) (via Nothing Records)

That’s all I have for you right now… Run along and have a nice day! I’ll be back at it again tomorrow, however, for an in-depth look at some brand new music from a relatively familiar face from the blog – the second entry from a Disco throwback project from a Los-Angeles based project (I’m still not 100% sure if it’s just a dude or a band, but anyways) who hosts his own podcast with new episodes releasing every Thursday. The track is a cover of a famous 60’s pop hit originally performed by Wayne Fontana. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/