From: USA
Year: 1994
Genre: Noise Rock, Metal
From the opening sample to the discordant rendition of amazing grace, this album bleeds an atmosphere of paranoia, nihilism, self-empowerment and fear. Steve Austin’s screams and singing portraying the dissolution of relationships and mental health. The anger is tempered by a sadness that NEVER gets sappy because its dripping in sarcastic, murderous rage. Even on the one song that he actually approaches a heartfelt sentiment, on Simple Touch, it feels like he’s just reminding you of loss before the violence explodes again. And that’s just the vocals and lyrics. TITD have flirted with so many genres of rock and extreme metal over the years that I won’t attempt to list them all here, but on this album they took the noisy swagger of bands like Unsane and Jesus Lizard, added the heavily distorted melody and dreaminess of bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Hum, stirred in subtle doses of Slayer and Melvins and injected the progressive complexity of bands like King Crimson and Slint into one of the most emotionally charged and aggressively cathartic albums ever recorded. Discordant riffs slash and burn across the odd time signatures of the jazz-like drumming while the bass lines slither and thump beneath the turmoil while attempting to hold everything together. The use of samples throughout the album is notable for the way they help set the mood and tell the “story” and are almost as memorable as the music itself. I obviously worship this album and can’t recommend it enough. Will be posting the latest album, Pain is a Warning, soon but until then you can buy it here.
