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Re: Speak up for the great 'bastard child' albums.

65 by A_Man_Who_Tries
Just mentioned it in the 'Swing and a Miss' thread, but also speaking up for Napalm Death's Diatribes here. It came out after Fear, Emptiness, Despair, which took a hiding for its style at the time, but I loved it and also think it has aged very well.

Diatribes landed amongst the high watermark of what some of these parts have christened 'mersh metal', and while it stood up favourably to a lot of output of the time, fact is this was not a time to be British and peddling what sounded transatlantic.

The lead single Greed Killing felt derivative even then, which probably did the album no favours overall, but from front-to-back it's actually an interesting effort, and I'm far more likely to reach for it now than much of its peers.

at war with bellends

Re: Speak up for the great 'bastard child' albums.

67 by Mark Lansing
Krev wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:04 am Have you listened to Dead Man's Pop? It's on my should-check-out list, but I'm having a hard time building up the gumption to listen to a remastered album that was originally marginal. Pleased To Meet Me was the best post-Bob record the Mats put out, everything else was just Paul solo album material. I totally own my bias, I think Stink and Sorry Ma...are both masterpieces.
Dead Man's Pop isn't a remastered version of Don't Tell A Soul -- it was the band's original mix for the album, before the label handed it over to Chris Lord-Alge, who applied many layers of digital murk over it. The cleaner original mix makes it sound like a completely different and much more enjoyable album. The songs and performances come to life rather than sounding sluggish and weighed down, and while it's more polite than Tim or Pleased to Meet Me, it sounds like a Replacements album, which (to me) Don't Tell A Soul never did. Seriously, it's well worth a listen.
"Everything should be kept. I regret everything I’ve ever thrown away." -- Richard Hell

Re: Speak up for the great 'bastard child' albums.

68 by M.H
A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:18 am I wouldn't say so, but it's definitely underrated. I reckon Pandemonium is the bastard child amongst KJ albums.
Judging by the band's set lists over the last few tours, they've decided that the 2 self titled albums, Pandemonium and Night Time are where the strongest material is to be found - I'd argue it's the melodic and melancholic Joke (Brighter than a Thousand Suns and Democracy) that often get unfairly ignored, even by the band.
A_Man_Who_Tries wrote:Diatribes landed amongst the high watermark of what some of these parts have christened 'mersh metal', and while it stood up favourably to a lot of output of the time, fact is this was not a time to be British and peddling what sounded transatlantic.
Yeah, their whole "groove" period has undergone a slight reevaluation recently, (esp on Decibel), but it's still overlooked. They evolved so much w/ Danny on the drums but this sound lost them their old audience and didn't gain them a new one; a real shame because they were super fluid and expressive during this era (shoulda changed singer really, cuz Barney is unable to keep up and is virtually redundant on these records). But I felt they got a raw deal as the band is operating well above the mid-90s Roadrunner pablum.

I'll be a bit more controversial and say Inside the Torn Apart is the most realised effort - gains back a bit of the edge they lost on Diatribes, which (IMO) suffers a tad from over-polished production.

Re: Speak up for the great 'bastard child' albums.

69 by M.H
My choice would be the commercial suicide period run of Ministry records: Filth Pig, Dark Side of the Spoon and Animositytisomina - Al's junky nonsense aside, they were churning out some really sonically inventive, super aggressive material that just got completely ignored. I think it holds up really well (esp compared to the compitent but deadly dull thrash direction that Al pursued after Barker left).

Re: Speak up for the great 'bastard child' albums.

70 by Krev
M.H wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 2:50 am
A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:18 am I wouldn't say so, but it's definitely underrated. I reckon Pandemonium is the bastard child amongst KJ albums.
Judging by the band's set lists over the last few tours, they've decided that the 2 self titled albums, Pandemonium and Night Time are where the strongest material is to be found - I'd argue it's the melodic and melancholic Joke (Brighter than a Thousand Suns and Democracy) that often get unfairly ignored, even by the band.
A_Man_Who_Tries wrote:Diatribes landed amongst the high watermark of what some of these parts have christened 'mersh metal', and while it stood up favourably to a lot of output of the time, fact is this was not a time to be British and peddling what sounded transatlantic.
Yeah, their whole "groove" period has undergone a slight reevaluation recently, (esp on Decibel), but it's still overlooked. They evolved so much w/ Danny on the drums but this sound lost them their old audience and didn't gain them a new one; a real shame because they were super fluid and expressive during this era (shoulda changed singer really, cuz Barney is unable to keep up and is virtually redundant on these records). But I felt they got a raw deal as the band is operating well above the mid-90s Roadrunner pablum.

I'll be a bit more controversial and say Inside the Torn Apart is the most realised effort - gains back a bit of the edge they lost on Diatribes, which (IMO) suffers a tad from over-polished production.
Pandemonium sounds pretty dated due to its industrial metal-isms. I think Democracy is the stronger record, but it suffers from the handful of techno-metal tracks.

I love Night Time and Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, but Extremities was probably their high point.
We're headed for social anarchy when people start pissing on bookstores.
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