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Skinny Puppy

Greetings All!

This month, just in time for the holiday, I have the pleasure of being able to review an old favorite of many of you out there, and a band that has proven themselves consistently over the years of being musical geniuses. The members of Skinny Puppy have once again pulled together, and released a scorcher of an album! This is the review I know many of you out there have been waiting for, and I'm about to put you all out of your misery :o)



As many of you might know, Skinny Puppy, one of the founding fathers of industrial, have released a long awaited new album entitled "The Greater Wrong Of The Right", and what an album it is! I have been told that with regards to old SP stuff, the new stuff is much different - more tight and too clean, you might say. I personally don't know a lot about them - I have always been considered a "headbanger" - (yes, an OLD term) :o) and there you go! So I hope I can do them some justice. SP is well known for their dark, powerful, and emotionally disturbing works. The lyrics are meticulously created, and the use of wordplay is sublime. There are 10 tracks on the album, but 2 of them just don't do it for me. I don't suppose all songs on every album, even if it's your favorite band, will do it for you. Ok, so let's get on with it - no doubt you're all eager to get with the good stuff! The first song on the album is called "I'mmortal". A punchy, danceable tune with a sort of dual meaning of the title - could be pronounced immortal, or I'm mortal, and the lyrics definitely suggest both, talking of pictures on the walls which hide what's behind them. Pictures are a way of "immortalising" the individual within them, and having them displayed tends to hide other things too, such as the innermost person. What may be displayed in the picture is really only what's on the surface - it's a pose, yet it hides what may be happening on the inside. Or quite possibly, it could portray something deeper that most may not normally see, but becomes clear within the image itself. Something that wishes to make itself known, that fights for recognition. Or perhaps even something that makes you go back in time, another way of capturing immortality.



"Just looking for something, is what to say
Keep looking at nothing, to go away
You take my picture, a portrait prize
Behind my image, your father's eyes

Just looking for something
Just looking for something
Just looking for something
Just looking for something NOW

It looks like something, from far away
Inside the image grows and makes the shadow fade
Behind the image posted on your wall
A crack is hiding, fighting for it all

Just looking for something
Just looking for something
Just looking for something
Just looking for something NOW

We've taken it somewhere, from far away
The voices echo, from yesterday
Behind the crack behind the image on the wall
I see you curled up tightly hiding from it all

Just looking for something
Just looking for something
Just looking for something
Just looking for something NOW"..



Well now, there's a grand way to start the ball rolling :o) Eager for more? Good, me too. Let's move on..I DIG the opening to this next song. It's called "Pro - test", and it's one of those songs that reach out and grab you, and give you a damned good shaking to get your attention. Basically what it's saying is, take a good look around at the state of things, of where you live, the government, and how people treat each other. We ALL do things we do for our own "good reasons", yet how many of us actually take the time to consider our surroundings, or how it might be affecting not only ourselves, but the rest of the world too? Those who are higher up, clearly don't give a damn. So long as they are getting paid, who cares what other people have to struggle through, or what they have to suffer with as a result of someone else's actions? You might say this song is HUGELY political - Somehow, I think it's a warning.

"Hit me on the street while waiting to do nothing
Where within the space, can anything feel certain
Look into the future, make out the word "speak"
Send in the spies to watch them.

Creepy are the people, unable to do something
Sitting on an armchair, fenced in their creation
Look up to be there, anywhere is somewhere
Itchy past, scratch the itch.

Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me
Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me

Feel about a nation, so precious is the freedom
Carousel the brass ring, reach into a black mass
So its corroded, always polluted
We all want some of it.

Maybe all the people now left without no loving

Where within the strength gone, better see it coming
Get off the fence, trip, rip up the garbage
Make it up to the earth, bitch

Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me
Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me
Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me
Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me

Be a politician, eroding all your freedoms
Down the rabbit hole, cracks, money markets fall
Through a looking glass, time becomes too fast
All to benefit the rich, so keep eating from the apple
Edges from the center, shaken to the core
Until it doesn't matter, no one to turn to
Nowhere to run to
Better the bomb, to blow it

Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me
Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me
Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me
Hit me in the streets, hit me in the streets, hit me, hit me".



Pretty heavy the messages within this one, isn't it? If you think that's something, the next one will REALLY get your attention. I am skipping over one song to get to this one. Although musically, I think this song blows, the lyrics are forthright and scary, to say the least. It shows the degeneration of the world around us, all done and created by MAN the world over. It just goes to show that people, when given the opportunity, just suck beyond belief! It's SAD the way life has been made to seem undesirable, as if it were an ugly thing that is somehow a threat. It talks of deforestation, and cloning, as if this, somehow, were an acceptable norm. Isn't this rather like stomping on God's territory? Not to seem religious here, you understand. Just making a point that Man is engaging in things he ought not to be engaging in. Some things are much better left to their own devices.

"Neuwerld order..

Pissing on a river, on the way, a long tomorrow
Rancid waters picking up the remnants of a flower
In all of us exists the touch of deadly warming global
And trust, we must distrust the owners of the new world order.

What of the hour, of the whole?
Look what you've been missing.

Feed upon the fingers, chew the knuckle to the bone
Dig inside the crack, beside the pain that is a home
Live a distant second skin, whatever else that can
Fed upon the remnants of a life that's never had.

What of the hour, of the whole?
Look what you've been missing.

Neuwerld order.

He took a living thing, and made a copy of it
An image, put the finish on a life still being made
The secret twist, invading mists, the desert once a forest
Can't see the forest for the death within the tree.

Neuwerld order.

Inside the crack. beside the pain that is a home
Inside the crack, beside the pain that is a home".



Ok, the next tune is pretty kewl. the opening sounds a lot like a musical painting, of walking through an eerie cemetery, in the middle of the night, complete with all the sights and sounds that go along with it. There is also a great amount of war and death within this song, so I guess the cemetery-esque notes are appropriate. Think in terms of death by chemical warfare, and deliberately keeping the poor totally under the thumb of mindless dictators, whose only goal in life is to gain total control, no matter what the cost. Allowing global terrorism to take the upper hand, as though it was acceptable. Cause and effect? What effect will their personal karma have on not only themselves, but the rest of the world? How many more will have to die before someone decides "enough is enough"? Is it just me, or is the whole thing nothing more than a crapshoot with overtones of "my dick is bigger than your dick"? I guess we'll have no other choice but to wait and see. Anyway, the song is called "dOwnsizer". Have a look, and let the lyrics speak to you.

"Attached in awe.. What a whiplash, hate-filled culture of.
Viruses born, raised, and infected with violent thought
To set it off, defend the wrong, incite the thing to bring it down..
To bring it down.
To bring it down.

The panic of..nn a moment's time bomb, the artful dodge
To fabricate a polarizing opposite, political intention
To keep it poor without a choice
So full of fear, a people's voice.

Carve a scar... warm clotting of meat
The maker of the hollow cost.
Kept pockets picked of all moral law
To face the truth, were banished from a history
Of then is wrong, defend the wrong
Incite the thing to bring it down.
To bring it down.
To bring it down".



And moving on! We come to the final song on this album that I'm going to add in here. This last one is called "Use Less". Take that both ways it's meant to be taken - use less, and useless. The title pretty much sums it up nicely, but like any good Shakespearean play, if you didn't get the gist of it by the opener, well...that's what the remainder of it is for! To explain the meaning in more depth. Are we overusing the resources of the world just to make our lives more cushy? And by doing this, are we not putting our mortality to the forefront? Aren't we really signing our own death certificates? Like the above line says, "time to consume, does it concern me? under a flag, free".. This says to me that as long as we're all happy, and getting what we want in life, who cares what kind of effect it's having? Is our eventual end, a known? Meaning, do we have any foresight? Do we see ourselves as surviving, despite the odds stacking against us? Or do we THINK we have all the answers, but really, our end is unknown? And just because we have certain freedoms, does this mean we can do whatever we feel like doing? Read on.

"Are we alone? Mission complete.
To the unknown, this is a story.
This is so sorry..

All is a stone, sunk in too deep.
Run out of air, lung full of heavy
It's feeling heavy.

Were we forewarned, force it to break
Labor of hate, who are we fooling?
What are we doing?
Pin it on time, proof in the meat.
Time to consume, does it concern me?
Under a flag, free.

Are we all completely use less?
Are we? Are we?

End is a known, sick and alone
Pieces of dream, meant as a nice theme
Meant as a nice dream.
So pause at the end, cause the effect
Shorten the pain, time for reflection,
Or to regret them.

Are we all completely use less?
Are we? Are we"?

Musically, that last piece was, in my opinion, not up to par, but lyrically, like the other songs on the album, it holds weight, and delivers a message that NEEDS to be adhered to. If only we could. If only we WOULD. Instead of being greedy, and wasting resources, much to the detriment of others around the world, why don't we use our knowledge and power to further ensure the survival of us all? Ok! that's half an album's worth of pretty great stuff! Overall, I have to say, the album is worth the money, so feel free to check it out on http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00020QZMU/ref=pm_dp_ln_m_2/102-2202500-0855353?v=glance&s=music&vi=samples and add it to your collection. If you click the link, you'll find that all but one of the songs has been loaded up for your listening pleasure - check em out!

You will, of course, need to have Realplayer, and/or Windows Mediaplayer installed in order to be able to enjoy the tracks. Those can be obtained via Cnet free of charge, unless you happen to have the latest version of Windows, and then you're already equipped! For those wishing to learn more about the band, I have found some good sites on them also, one, being their own site. You can access that http://www.skinnypuppy.com This site is well designed, has a nice look to it, but for those with a slow connection, the page takes some time loading. Go anyway - it's worth it.

Another good site worth visiting, and listed as an official link is this http://www.skinny-puppy.net/?image2.x=16&image2.y=15 fan site which was chosen by cEvin Key. Definitely worth a look, plus it has the added bonus of having some visually impressive, graphics to click on, offering you a broader view of this timeless band. Ok, this brings us to the close of another review! I would like to thank my partner, Doktor Avalanche for suggesting SP, and giving me the determination at last to sit down and really get into their music. I was glad I did, it was more than worth it. Hopefully you who are reading this will come to that conclusion as well. Next month, I have the pleasure of bringing the new Cradle Of Filth album to you as a rare Yule/Christmas treat :o) I'm looking forward to it and I know many of you out here will be too. Enjoy the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and I'll see you all next month!

Very Best Regards,
Silver


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