Cruel Melodyby Anonymous

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July 29, 2007: Comparisons to NIN and Limp Bizkit are going to be inescapable for poor ol' Wes Borland. It's a shame too, because this album really does go well beyond such restricting and generalized associations. In fact, I think this album owes more to early Stabbing Westward and late God Lives Underwater- two bands who also drew unfair comparisons to mainstream successors that unfortunately religated them to sidelines with mediocore contemporaries- than any work of atleast NIN, and certainly Limp Bizkit. Regardless of all that, take this album without a comparative ear and you've got a pretty solid piece of work. His lyrics are accessable enough to appeal to your average rebelous kid, but nuanced in a way that lets them reverberate with a bit more depth upon later listen "also, they make nihilism seem like a cheery and hopeful disposition by comparison- which I find endlessly entertaining". The entire first half of the album feels forcefully true to pieces of his metal sprinkled past, but with synth-lines and production tricks courtesy of Mr. Lohner, it rarely feels as underdeveloped. The latter half of the album is where the price of admission is justified. The songs are coated in delay and reverb. Gentle female harmonies float alongside his baritone croon. Watery synths wash over string arrangements and, together, fade out gingerly. I've always been a fan of Wes Borland, and I'm glad he's finally doing something that disregards frat boy demographics.