Skinny Puppy - Weapon

[Goiter Sanchez]

New Skinny Puppy album on May 28... Please discuss.

 

 

01. wornin'
02. illisiT
03. saLvo
04. gLowbeL
05. solvent
06. paragUn
07. survivalisto
08. tsudanama
09. plastiCage
10. terminal

The album is now streaming for you HERE.

 

 

[sidewinder]

From the samples I've heard I'll probably enjoy it more than the last three reunion albums, though I thought that last one was pretty good compared to the first two. Supposed to have a much more vintage sound. Stream, you say? I might not be able to wait until the 28th.

[David Bowman]

Sounds like shit to me. :/

[MadameChaos]

Sounds like shit to me. :/

 

[Guest Retrig]

I absolutely adore Skinny Puppy, and I'll come off as some pretentious ass for saying so, but everything "Skinny Puppy" post The Process is shit, or at least, not what I'm looking for by any means at this point in life.

The real question is, is the new Download any good?

[modey]

I was really excited by TGWOTR (still love it) but when Mythmaker came out I gave it one listen and didn't find it anywhere near as good. I haven't bothered with anything since that; should I?

[Blir]

Love GWOTR and Mythmaker, but didn't like the last one at all aside from a couple of tracks. The last OhGr was fantastic though. I'll still check this out because I'm a huge fan of Puppy.

[Guest Retrig]

Going to give the post Dwayne stuff a listen. Only skimmed GWOTR and Mythmaker, to be honest, and really didn't like what I heard. I'll check em out.

[awepittance]

At first when the reunion happened I thought that I just disliked how glitch and modern IDM the production sounded, and that's what stopped me from getting into it, but now i realize that it's not even that or how Ogre's voice seems less processed. It's that after Ogre's solo pop project he has a lot more traditional singing style now where he rhymes regularly, stays on tempo and sounds like he's trying to sing pop songs. I miss the more sort of freeform Ogre style vocals. If the vocals were more like that I think the album would be very listenable. IT just sounds 'pop' in very much a wrong way compared to old skinny puppy. The Process is the album that started the more poppish Ogre vocals and it should have ended there

[sidewinder]

Looking forward to it as much as I have the last 3 reunion albums. For me I've liked each of those more than the last, so I'm expecting to enjoy this one. At the same time, aside from following them because I used to be a huge fan, I don't pay attention to the rest of the genre, it's not really my thing anymore. So no matter how good the album may be, I'll only get so much enjoyment out of it.

 

Regarding ohGr, I'd say the same thing: Each album has been better than the last, for the most part. After a while I started to like Welt better than SunnyPsyOp, but that's the exception. Devils in My Details and Undeveloped were more like older Skinny Puppy to me than Greater Wrong of the Right or Mythmaker. But again, I can only get so much enjoyment out of each due to my declined interest in the genre.

Download had the opportunity to hold my interest longer but has gotten a little too dancey for me, leaving behind the distorted/creepy aspect I loved about them at the start. Based on samples, the new one seems to be a logical continuation of Helicopter, but maybe with more of an old-school/analog sound.

[awepittance]

i thought the last really solid Download album was Effector. In general i just dont like the production evolution Cevin Key has established in the last 5-10 years

[Guest MastaN8]

Absolutely. After ghost of each room it all slid downhill. I think alot of people round here would love his Dragon Experience LP... I've supported puppy for a long time but when you go to the shows now it's a bunch of ex-juggalos.

[sidewinder]

Dragon Experience was more enjoyable to me than Ghost of Each Room. But I agree his production hasn't impressed me in a while, sadly. I feared this when Plateau's debut Music for Grassbars came out, not my style at all. Luckily for me I've enjoyed some of the later Plateau albums more, but still not where I would like his production to me. It's just not "interesting" enough or something, it's lacking that mind-blowing element. A few great moments here and there in a wash of meh.

[modey]

Is there a place online where I can legitimately acquire digital versions of Download albums?

[sidewinder]

Is there a place online where I can legitimately acquire digital versions of Download albums?

 

Certainly, Amazon has them all.

 

Furnace

The Eyes of Stanley Pain

Charlie's Family

III

Effector

Fixer

Helicopter

 

iTunes also has them all.

[awepittance]

Furnace and Charlie's Family are very abstract albums compared to the others. 'Eyes' was when download started to do sort of a proto breakcore thing, very drum and bass inspired but in a good way. III is a huge shift in direction over to more chill out rave/techno/house stuff, but still with a weird tinge over it. Effector has a lot of different styles and was hugely inspired by psychedelics. Fixer and Helicopter are when they kind of dropped off for me. Started to employ a lot of already outdated sounding IDM glitching techniques ( a part of Fixer includes an Otto von shirach cameo with a jarring and amateurishly programmed amen break through distortion) and something about them both feel overworked and a little lifeless compared to the earlier more unpredictable work.

what's sort of strange to me is that Cevin Key already sort of did an idm 'homage' early on in the form of his album with Paris from Christian Death, Involution. but now that he's returned to IDM-ish vibes he seems more behind the curve rather than ahead of it.

[sidewinder]

Totally agree with that, that's what annoys me about his production over the last 10 years. Essentially outdated and lifeless IDM. Not to say I don't enjoy some moments, but overall it's just not interesting. Furnace and Stanley Pain will forever remain their creative peaks.

[Guest recycle]

love it.

everything after The Process is absolutely ace.

buy all the Download releases

but some of the other skinny puppy side projects dont do it for me

 

the OhGr solo stuff is ace, sooo goood live!

[Blir]

Furnace and Charlie's Family are very abstract albums compared to the others. 'Eyes' was when download started to do sort of a proto breakcore thing, very drum and bass inspired but in a good way. III is a huge shift in direction over to more chill out rave/techno/house stuff, but still with a weird tinge over it. Effector has a lot of different styles and was hugely inspired by psychedelics. Fixer and Helicopter are when they kind of dropped off for me. Started to employ a lot of already outdated sounding IDM glitching techniques ( a part of Fixer includes an Otto von shirach cameo with a jarring and amateurishly programmed amen break through distortion) and something about them both feel overworked and a little lifeless compared to the earlier more unpredictable work.

 

what's sort of strange to me is that Cevin Key already sort of did an idm 'homage' early on in the form of his album with Paris from Christian Death, Involution. but now that he's returned to IDM-ish vibes he seems more behind the curve rather than ahead of it.

 

 

Agreed, even though I really like one half of FiXer and I love Helicopter. Helicopter took a while to grow on me though.

 

I still need to give Weapon a proper listen but the problem with Handover was just how bland and meandering most of the tracks were. A lot of Puppy fans, especially on that fucking rubbish Litany forum thought it was a return to form and a return to old Puppy style but I honestly don't see it.

In terms of being a return to old Puppy sound I only think that's an apt comparison with Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse due to long tracks that don't change around much, which was more of a necessity back then due to hardware limitations. Also at the time it was brazen and original, so it earned a lot of points with people. These days it doesn't break any new ground and the structure of the songs don't really sound all that interesting to me.

 

I dunno, I'm one of the minority anyway. I got into Puppy when TGWOTR came out (I know, I know), but worked my way through their back catalogue. My favourite albums of theirs are Too Dark Park and Last Rights, depending on my mood. But I actually liked that Ogre brought his more structured, OhGr pop style to Puppy, it worked well with the electronics. Now it seems like the vocals are at odds with the music, which I know was kind of the case back in the early 90's due to fallouts between Ogre and the other two, but now it seems a little contrived? Maybe because there isn't the raw emotion of peoples lives falling apart.

 

I dunno, maybe I'm talking nonsense/growing out of it/stupid.

[sidewinder]

I realized that after listening to the stream a few times I hadn't shared my thoughts, having gotten lost in this Download conversation. And on that topic, I neglected to include Kushbush in my album list above, which is actually my favorite since III.

 

Weapon is for me the best post-reunion album. I felt it coming, and it's true. There is still some level of cheesiness in some tracks, but how can we avoid that with this style of music in 2013? Scary and dark can't stay that way forever. What I do like about this album is that it does more closely recreate the vibe I miss from older Skinny Puppy albums, unlike The Greater Wrong... and Mythmaker, which had a newer, slicker feel to them that I never quite got behind. Handover got closer, but was still missing some grit. That grit seems to have resurfaced here, and I like that. As I stated before, I'll only get so much enjoyment out of this no matter how good it is because I just don't listen to this genre that much anymore. I'm not often in the mood for something dark and scary. But if I want to listen to any post-Process Skinny Puppy, this is it. It might even be more enjoyable than The Process (not that I ever loved that one but over time I've gotten used to it as part of Skinny Puppy's core body of work, and have enjoyed many of the songs live). While I do enjoy the re-recording of Solvent, it almost seems too much like a bonus track stuck in the middle of the album. It's out of place without really sounding out of place. The album feels a little bit short (or maybe it just goes by quickly because it's good?) so it just seems like there could be more newer material rather than an older song thrown in.

[Goiter Sanchez]

I realized that after listening to the stream a few times I hadn't shared my thoughts, having gotten lost in this Download conversation. And on that topic, I neglected to include Kushbush in my album list above, which is actually my favorite since III.

 

Weapon is for me the best post-reunion album. I felt it coming, and it's true. There is still some level of cheesiness in some tracks, but how can we avoid that with this style of music in 2013? Scary and dark can't stay that way forever. What I do like about this album is that it does more closely recreate the vibe I miss from older Skinny Puppy albums, unlike The Greater Wrong... and Mythmaker, which had a newer, slicker feel to them that I never quite got behind. Handover got closer, but was still missing some grit. That grit seems to have resurfaced here, and I like that. As I stated before, I'll only get so much enjoyment out of this no matter how good it is because I just don't listen to this genre that much anymore. I'm not often in the mood for something dark and scary. But if I want to listen to any post-Process Skinny Puppy, this is it. It might even be more enjoyable than The Process (not that I ever loved that one but over time I've gotten used to it as part of Skinny Puppy's core body of work, and have enjoyed many of the songs live). While I do enjoy the re-recording of Solvent, it almost seems too much like a bonus track stuck in the middle of the album. It's out of place without really sounding out of place. The album feels a little bit short (or maybe it just goes by quickly because it's good?) so it just seems like there could be more newer material rather than an older song thrown in.

Thanks for the great review Sidewinder! I haven't gotten around to listening to this so this gives me more impetus to do so!

[usagi]

this is a pleasant surprise! might be the best thing they've done since... jeez, Last Rights? I really didn't care for any of the last few albums apart from one or two tracks here and there. that makes this the best SP album in like 20+ years, for me anyway.

[awepittance]

for me the metric is 'is this better than the process' and while it falls short of that by a bit, its still the best thing they've done since imo