 (həd) p.e. - Insomnia
The sound of a (həd) p.e. record in the year 2007—or in fact any year for the past half a decade or so—is the sound of a very confused band.
Formed very organically in 1994 from the remains of various funk and punk rock bands, the band’s natural and honest fusion of rap vocals with vicious guitar riffage pushed them to the top of the nu-metal pile when their most successful album to date, Broke, was released in the same year that contemporaries Limp Bizkit took over the world with Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water.
Fast forward just five years later to around 2005, and the nu-metal buzzword has long since lost its … well, buzz. Those who failed to adapt to the quickly-changing popular music landscape, such as the aforementioned former scene kingpins led by Mr. Durst, have either split-up or fallen into the box marked “where are they now?” after only a couple of albums. The Deftones and KoRn have notably survived by re-inventing their own style, taking the core sound of what they were playing at the turn of the millennium and building on it with new ideas, a wider range of influences and even increased pop sensibilities.
So where does this leave (həd) p.e.? Well, much like most other bands from the nu-metal era who are still holding it together today, they have attempted to adjust their sound to fit in with a new niché. Unlike the Deftones and KoRn, however, (həd) p.e. have chosen not to do this by building upon their existing sound, but rather by stripping their music down to its bare roots and starting all over again. Vocals with an increased influence from urban music, welded on to basic three-chord punk riffs were the staple of pretty much every song on 2004’s Only In Amerika and last year’s Back To Base X, but this merging of styles had a tendency to came off as sloppy and non-cohesive. This lack of focus has resulted in poor record sales and a general failure to re-generate interest in the band and their new sound.
It was with a great deal of surprise that I threw on the new (həd) p.e. album, Insomnia, and after an intro track of chugging palm-muted guitars was met with angry screaming vocals, bouncy drumming and a catchy but jagged metal riff on the album’s first proper song, Walk On By. This, to me, is the proper evolution of (həd) p.e.; the kind of material they should have released right after Broke, rather than a couple of albums of recycled “heard it all a million and one times before over the past thirty years” punk riffs and lazy unmotivated singing.
Things continue to look promising as the next track, Game Over, bursts into my eardrums with a crunching bassline and energetic lead guitar sound. It kinda reminds me of Sum-41, only better.
But … what’s this? The ferocious punk/metal attack subsides, and is replaced by... The backing tune from Chic Cheer by 70s disco group Chic? Some of you may know this better as the backing track sampled on Love Like This by Faith Evans, or even the backing track of “that Fatman Scoop song”. No, seriously—(həd) p.e. have just learned how to play Chic Cheer, already one of the most sampled and overused tunes in the history of modern music, and decided that the rest of the song is going to be frontman Jahred talking about nothing in particular over the top of it. It might even be fair enough if Jahred talked about anything other than how awesome he is, how much he likes to “fuck pussy”, or singing “ooh, I, need some head, say ooh I need some head” to the rhythm of Oops upside your head. I don’t think Jahred has quite grasped the fact that the 14 year olds who bought Broke aren’t 14 any more, and straight-up don’t find that kind of thing funny now that they are in their 20s. The song ends with a feverish spoken word rant that starts off well with a generic “I’d rather be dead than be a fucking prisoner in your matrix of fucking consumer bullshit” statement, but quickly descends into some whiny ass jock sounding bullshit about how much he hates guys with “girl haircuts” and “girl clothes”. Who gives a fuck? The album’s finest moment comes in the form of the line “If you don’t know what I’m talkin’ about, Wikipedia that shit”, but even that can’t save this awful song.
“We’re sick and tired of the status quo, pissed off and ready to go” is a fine refrain for the fourth track, a suitably decent little modern punk number not unlike a fucked-up kind of Green Day. For a brief moment, it almost seems like this band actually might have something worthwhile to say, but that is quickly nullified as you fight through bullshit like “hey shorty, come on over tonight and I’ll eat your little pussy underneath the moonlight” and “here take this vibrator, I want you to play with your clit while I fuck you from behind” on the rest of this album. And both of these quotes come from one song—a generic funk song with female vocals chanting “I’m just a little girl, you make me feel so dirty, Hurt me hurt me” over and over again.
Seriously. I know it sounds hilarious and all that, but when you’re actually listening to it you can’t believe that someone bothered to release this garbage. My mum caught me listening to this track, in fact, and it was actually embarrassing—not so much for the immature lyrical content, but also just because it’s such awful music. Maw Spinebuster was a hair metal fan in the 80s, and has had to listen to all sorts of awful music from Anal Cunt to Will Smith thanks to my mix tapes on long car journeys, so she is no stranger to absolutely terrible songs. But still even she had to pop her head in, take a look at the CD player, and give me a screwed-up face as if to say “what the fuck is this shit?".
The bare-faced cheek of this band really sinks in with the track Children, a fairly faithful cover of Buffalo Springfield’s 1967 classic, For What It’s Worth. Five minutes ago this band only gave a shit about partying it up and “eating bitch’s pussies", and now they want to talk about war? If you really care about the current political climate, how about using your own words to let us know how you feel rather than covering some cliché-ass song and only letting your own lyric-writing pen touch paper when you have some “hilarious” innuendo-laced pun to let loose on the world?
The only thing that stands out about this band’s sound is the incorporation of reggae and dub influences, but Bad Brains have been mixing punk rock with reggae for almost three decades now and actually singing about things I care about. In fact, Bad Brains also have a new album out this month. The world does not need a watered-down cartoon caricature of reggae meets rock, when the originators of the style are still releasing relevant music.
(həd) p.e. are not an untalented band—in fact there is some killer drumming and technical thrash metal guitar soloing to be found on this clusterfuck of an album. At times Jahred’s vocal delivery isn’t entirely unlike that of one of modern day’s greatest rap luminaries, Pharoahe Monch, particularly on the track Comeova2nite. If this band weren’t all very talented, I’d probably be more likely to cut them a break. But they could do so much better, and that’s what is so damn annoying. This is a relatively decent album—it’s definitely packed full of energy, and throwing on the odd track from it now and then will provide a pretty fun three and a half minutes before you want to listen to something more substantial. My main gripe with this album is that, seeming uncertain which direction to move in and where trends will take music next, (həd) p.e. are producing music that is un-focused and totally lacking in originality. There are some flashes of top-drawer songwriting buried deep within the pits of this CD, but they are too often obscured by awful lyrics and followed-up by uninspired “quick and easy” punk riffs. If only this band could focus their musical style a little better, as well as their lyrical subject matter, then maybe the music world would care about them again.
Insomnia will be released in the UK on August 6th 2007, through Suburban Noize / RSK Entertainment. | |
