Title of Record

1	Sand 0:36
2	Welcome To The Fold 7:40
3	Captain Bligh 5:12
4	It's Gonna Kill Me 5:04
5	The Best Things 4:26
6	Take A Picture 6:03
7	Skinny 5:43
8	I Will Lead You 3:23
9	Cancer 6:39
10	I'm Not the Only One 5:49
11	Miss Blue 5:36

Barnes & Noble

Like post-grunge dirge rockers from Tool to Korn, Filter make music you'd hardly want to bring home to meet Mommy. On TITLE OF RECORD, singer Richard Patrick alternates from an evil post-Ozzy blather to a skybound pretty-boy quaver, often to compelling effect. The marvelous downward spiral "Welcome to the Fold" and 4/4 pummel of "Captain Bligh" pound as hard as anything spewed forth from the Family Values scene and are elevated by catchy melodic refrains, a detail most metal bands don't bother with. Like Cheap Trick reborn for the age of Y2K, techno-infused crotch-rock like "The Best Things" is about as happily arty as this kind of dunderhead manna can get. The acoustic-guitar-driven "Take a Picture" risks derailing the rush by bringing back bad memories of '80s metal's sensitive side, and Patrick's Reznorian vocals on "Cancer" sound -- no doubt intentionally -- like he just contracted the disease. But these detours hardly ruin what is, for the most part, a throbbing, nasty good time. Jon Dolan

All Music Guide

Filter's 1995 debut Short Bus broke through at the exact moment when Nine Inch Nails soundalikes began dominating the modern rock charts. Filter had more credit to their sound than any of their peers -- their leader Richard Patrick had played in the touring incarnation of NIN. Nevertheless, many critics had written the band off as one-hit wonders with the crossover single "Hey Man, Nice Shot" being their one shot at glory. Since it took them four years to deliver the followup Title of Record, it could appear to the casual observer that the delay was proof positive that the band was a flash in the pan, but the album itself proves them wrong. If anything, it's a stronger album than its predecessor, with more sonic details and stronger songwriting. Title of Record is still firmly within the industrial-metal tradition -- parts of it sound like it could have been on Short Bus, actually -- but it's surprising how often Patrick bends the rules. There's trippy neo-psychedelic pop vocals that close "Captain Bligh," and even when the music rages (which it does throughout the record), there are subtle differences in tension and dynamics that keep it fresh and engaging throughout. It is true that Filter sound a little out of place within the modern rock world of 1999, where the aggro-metal is rooted in hip-hop not industrial, but that doesn't mean that Title of Record isn't a strong album on its own merits, according to the rules of its genre. Stephen Thomas Erlewine