Talk:Songs for Insects

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Metal

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In their early years, Thought Industry were housed in that very same bastion of oddball metal bands that included the likes of Anacrusis and Voivod. However, Thought Industry's earliest material was also marked with a certain sense of ostentation and pretentiousness. Through careful reading of the liner notes, you will discover that fourteen instruments were used on this recording and each is used to the very culminating point of overt technicality. This presents a rather interesting musical dilemma: while the music itself is indeed a very interesting concoction of thrash, folk, prog and even funk (reminding one of a certain Mr. Bungle, at least in the days of their brilliant self-titled debut), all the listener can discern from the music is a certain sense of isolation. It's almost as if the musicians themselves recorded this album for the sheer sake of annoying the hell out of the listener, leaving him or her perplexed, perturbed, and confused.

However, is overt technicality reason enough to write an album off as a coaster? Of course not, as there are some truly amazing and interesting moments pervading this album. Brent Oberlin's utterly amazing bass playing (both fretted and fretless and he also played a chapman stick like it's no one's business) is used more for counter melodies and awe-inspiring funk runs than mere rhythm keeping. The guitar interplay of Christopher Lee (no, not the actor who has played a vampire more times than you can shake a stick at) and Paul Enzio (consisting of both six and seven-stringed, fretted, fretless, and six and twelve-string acoustic guitars) provides more notes and riffs in a single song than the listener is willing to put up with (adding to the ostentation factor). Perhaps the only real fault one can have with the playing is Brent Oberlin's often-offkey and untrained vocal performance, which provides more cringe-inducing moments than I am willing to sit through.

For what amounts to a debut, this is quite a strong and interesting album, despite its over-indulgence. This album served as a necessary stepping stone for the band, which would slowly streamline their sound over time and eventually become one of the greatest bands in music, hands down.

Review by Alec A. Head

Review date: 12/2001

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