Twiztid: Freek Show
I actually own Twiztid's second album, so I'll probably have more to say on this album. I gotta say right off the bat though, ICP have had some cool album covers, and
Mostasteless was...I don't know, not completely awful I guess. But this album's cover is just embarrassing. If you didn't know the mentality of their fans then now you do: morons who like to think they're listening to something subversive even though they don't even have the balls to listen to Slayer or Black Flag.
Like I said on my other Twiztid review, the problem with this album is that, while half the album is fairly fantastic, the other half is barely listenable. They'd obviously jumped onto the juggalo bandwagon that had been created by the previous few years of success by ICP...and others I guess. Honestly I'm piecing my history together more by release dates on albums than any real digging, but there are some obvious conclusions to make. Like this album.
On the previous album Twiztid had been without face paint. Obviously this has changed in the past three years. Since there's no real artistic reason I can think of why they would have done this...yeah. There was also a notable lack of any kind of mention of juggalos, except for a cover of an ICP song, but here it's shoved down our throats. And then there are the lyrics. Previously they had been a mix of horrorcore and gangsta rap that had been uninspired but fun as hell. Now we get whiny, sub-metalcore crap about being depressed and suicidal that is obviously being targeted at moody teenagers who can't even spell "quality control". But I could ignore all of that. A few mentions of the "family" wouldn't bother me so much, I can settle for just rolling my eyes at the lyrics, and the face paint...well nobody with half a brain ever listened to these groups for their integrity.
What I can't overlook though is the sheer awfultasticness (TM) of some of the music on display. The last song on
Mostasteless "Renditions of Reality" had shown a more gothic, atmospheric side than we had previously seen. It was actually rather cool. They've tried to expand on this with
Freek Show. The whole album has a darker, more theatrical feel. Opener "Mutant X" and follow-up, "We Don't Die" are much like the high energy bangers that we are familiar with, but they have a noticeably darker tone and production than before. They also kick some nasty ass.
On the other foot though, we have songs like "Leave Me Alone" and "Empty". Horrible, horrible songs. I think they tried to make some kind of...goth/alternative rock songs(?) or something. I don't know since they're so pitiful that I wouldn't care to take the time to categorize them in the first place. They even tried covering The Doors' "People Are Strange". Yeah, that song. Perhaps you're saying, "Oh...okay. That sounds dumb, but maybe they 'rapped it up' and made it kinda, sorta, maybe cool". Nope. They sang it straight. No rapping. Just singing. Now you must be saying to yourself, "Oh...okay. Maybe they can actually sing?" Nope. Not at all. Not even kinda, sorta, maybe. They're awful. They try to throw a crappy beat over it to...do something I guess, but nothing can save this abomination. Honestly I didn't even know the beat was there until I was listening to it just now. All I can do while it's on is think, "Ew. What do they think they're doing? The fact that juggalos didn't mock them until Twiztid didn't even want to step foot outside of their houses for five years is all the proof I need that this 'movement' is garbage."
And yet I've been playing the hell out this album the last week. Perhaps it's because it's the only Twiztid album I own? Probably, but the other half of the album is still as quality as anything they've ever done. "Fall Apart" is a song that incorporates the newer, more atmospheric side of their sound, but without the awful...rockishness. The lyrics even manage to combine sadsackiness with horrorcore in a way that's fun and might not make me wanna gag when I needed a good whiny cry. "I swallow razor blades and spit up blood/Cut out my heart and gave it to my love/I hung myself with an extention cord/And dangled high above the ouiji board". Goofy but fun. I can't ask for much more. But the best songs on here are the more anthemic songs with the big, dumb chorus. The aforementioned "We Don't Die", "All I Ever Wanted", and "Wut tha Dead Like" are about as addictive as your mother's vagina filled with crack rocks. And a song featuring Three Six Mafia, "Where Itz Goin Down" is a hilarious bonus.
So, when they backtrack to something more familiar they're as good as they ever were, but their...experimentations, are tragic. I've heard much better things about the more atmospheric side of their sound later on in their career, and Goofle actually highly recommended their latest album, so I'm going to assume that this was just a stumbling block for them before greater things. I hope so cause I love Twiztid when they're on their game.
P.S. Why the hell are these getting so long? I'm usually pretty f
ucking lazy. Whatevs.