After the unexpected breakthrough success of "Come Clean" two years before, pressure really grew on PUDDLE OF MUDD to be able to repeat that success. These factors led to a much darker, more desperate and emotional and quite agressive record called "Life On Display." The album may have resulted in sales below expectations and soon after this release, drummer Greg Upchurch and lead guitar player Paul Phillips left the band that took almost four years to arise from its ashes with a new line-up.

Despite many negative critics, this record is by far my favourite PUDDLE OF MUDD record and will probably always be. When I bought this album for 10 bucks back in the day, I didn't know that these were probaly my best invested 10 bucks ever. I may listened to this record 20, 30 or even more times in my life and I still feel like listening to this lost masterpiece from time to time.

This record is highly emotional and not commercially flavoured at all and that's what makes it so authentic. The opener and first single "Away From Me" already took my heart by storm. The dark and seperate riffs, the powerhouse drumming and the completely unchained vocals still send shivers down my spine. This is probably my favourite PUDDLE OF MUDD song of all times and I could hardly imagine a better opener. The lyrics are once again about a difficult relationship but in comparison to the modern "Control" or the party anthem "She Hates Me," this song is truly profound and tells the story of a desperate maniac who is always afraid that his girlfriend is cheating on him. This song sounds like a pitiless Metal version of a lost NIRVANA track with the difference that Wesley Reid Scantlin even easily beats Kurt Cobain. Scantlin's vocals are simply top notch on here.

The album contains more darker and desperate tracks. The dirty and hard to digest "Nothing Left to Lose," the faster "Cloud 9" and the dark Grunge anthem "Already Gone" are good examples even though they need several spins to grow on you and aren't as catchy as many songs from the previous record. The songs may be more complex and need more attention and time to really work but this album has a clear guiding line and is a dark ride to the negative emotions of the human soul through one hour of running time. I must also point out the desperate "Sydney" which seems to be another story of a desperate guy who is left by a girl. The way Scantlin performs towards the incredible end of this track makes me think if the girl only left him or if she eventually died and 'left' in another way. This song instantly sent shivers down my spine and is my personal number four of my favourite PUDDLE OF MUDD songs.

One of the best dark tracks on here is the incredible Grunge banger "Bottom." The record starts with psychedelic riffs as if the band went back to their "Abrasive" roots , adds a vivid and unique drum play to it, a very dark bass play and once again incredible vocals by Wesley Reid Scantlin. Especially the final moments of the songs when the vocals break free and yell all their pain away are simply stunning. This may be the most emotional PUDDLE OF MUDD song ever written.

The greatness doesn't stop there. The record also includes a few dark ballads that fit the concept but give you some time to relax. The melancholic "Change My Mind," the catchy single "Spin You Around" and especially the laid back and almost completely acoustic masterpiece "Think" are all instant classics. The highlight is though the official album closer "Time Flies" that starts in a very soft and laid back pace to become more twisted and psychedelic but also agressive at the same time to end with a beautiful and calm two minutes long acoustgic outro where the track clocks in at seven minutes. When I was young, I often used to fall asleep to this song. After a truly emotional record, this song really managed to calm me down and ends the album as great as it started. Along with "Away From Me" and "Bottom," the diverisfied "Time Flies" completes my favourite three PUDDLE OF MUDD songs.

In the end, this record has been widely underestimated by critics and fans alike in my opinion. This profound release is full of desperate and negative emotions that take you on a ride to the drak sides of the human being before it lets you go on an almost concealing and harmonic note. If you are able to get your Hands on the limited Editions including the potential hit single "Life Ain't Fair", the catchy Grunge hit "Daddy" and the dark and agressive "Bleed" that was used for the "Punisher" Soundtrack that I still try to get somewhere, don't hesitate to invest your Money on it. Ten years after its initial release, this album is still among my all time favourite records. No matter if you like Alternative Rock, Grunge or Heavy Metal. this authentic and profound album may please to all of you and should finally get the credit it deserves in my opinion. I hope my review inspires you to try this release out and revise your judgement if you have discovered this album and this band some years ago.

(Online July 20, 2013)

One year and a half after the release of the solid but widely undiscovered "Abrasive" record, tension within PUDDLE OF MUDD kept growing on and led to the split of the band. Singer, guitar player and mastermind Wesley Reid Scantlin though didn't want to give up his dream to become a Rock star and finally realized it because of a lucky conincidence. He gave a demo tape of his band to a technician or roadie who was working for LIMP BIZKIT. The guy gave the demo tape to the band's singer as well as producer Fred Durst who liked it enough to contact Scantlin. When he heard that PUDDLE OF MUDD had already split up, he decided to create a new band around the unique vocalist Wesley Reid Scantlin. Bass player Douglas John Ardito was an intern at Interscope Records, guitar player Paul Phillips from Florida was involved in a more or less successfull band called HAPPY HOUR before and drummer Greg David Upchurch from Louisiana had already played in the underground cult formation ELEVEN. The drummer would later join the famous Alternative Rock band 3 DOORS DOWN and become even more successful.

This new line-up rerecorded several old PUDDLE OF MUDD songs ("Drift & Die," "Nobody Told Me," "Said," "Piss It All Away" and bonus track "Abrasive") plus a couple of new tracks. The album hit really hard and sold over five million copies all around the world. The record contained four hit singles that are still among the most famous PUDDLE OF MUDD songs. The band toured with bands such as GODSMACK and LINKIN PARK and was also well known in Europe after a while.

A closer look on the album reveals that the band drifted away from the psychedelic and slow Grunge songs of the previous effort even though the rerecorded songs still hit that same vein. A song that connects the old and the new style of the band would be the melancholic but straight "Never Change" which is one of the most underrated tracks on here and would have been a great single choice in my humble opinion.

The new tracks are though much more Hard Rock or Nu Metal orientated. They are heavy, short and contain catchy hooks. Most of the lyrics turn around difficult relationships or love stories which hasn't been the case before. Only the emotional power ballad „Blurry“ contains truly profound lyrics and is dedicated to Wesley Reid Scantlin's son who hasn't been able to be with his father all the time when Scantlin worked so hard on his career.

The new songs are well represented by the powerful opener and first single "Control." The Alternative Metal sound contains emotional lyrics, agressive but still variable vocals by the unique frontman and a quite catchy Chorus: "I need to feel you - you need to feel me - I can't control you - you're not the one for me, no!" A video clip telling us a twisted love story and argument between Scantlin and his girlfriend also was at the pulse of its time and generation. A similar track is the hit single "She Hates Me" that kicks off with a ctachy but simplistic riff and develops into a faster powerhouse track towards the end. The success behind this track can be explained by the fact that almost anybody can identify with the hard situation when a girlfriend leaves him and reveals to have never truly been in love with a guy. I remember my high school class listening and singing along to this track during our recreations back then and even twelve years after its initial release, these lyrics still remain timeless. When I listen to this track I really think about certain things I have lived in my life not so long ago and it simply helps to listen to this song and get rid of negative emotions.

In the end, this record is a lot less experimental and profound than "Abrasive." The connection between more Grunge orientated and laid back songs on one side and straighter modern Hard Rock anthems doesn't always work very well. While the first half of the album really hits hard, the last few songs are a too radical change of style and especially songs like the minimalist "Said" or the exotic acoustic track "Piss It All Away" with its mandolin parts played by Steve Twigger need their time to grow. On the other side, this highly successfull record includes many unforgettable hits like "Control," "Drift & Die," "Nobody Told Me," "Blurry," "She Hates Me" and even "Never Change" that still touch me 12 years after their initial release. This album can be seen as a commercially flavoured Post-Grunge classic and has played an important part in the music that defined my youth.

(Online July 15, 2013)

ORPHANED LAND is an ambitious band from Bat-Yam and Petah-Tikva in Israel that started as a Death and Doom Metal band back in 1991. As time went by, the band shifted more and more towards Middle Eastern Folk Metal and developed a musical and lyrical approach that tries to unite the different cultures and religions of the Middle East. The band plays Folk music with a heavy twist inspired by many intriguing subcultures. Their songs feature lyrics in Arabic, English, Hebrew, Latin, Turkish and more. Above all stands the clear message that people should unite and live peacefully together instead of fighting each other. All these elements caracterize this motivated and unique band. Some fans even started a petition to help the band getting the Nobel Prize for their commitment to allowing the Arab World to listen to their music despite ongoing conflicts and to spread their peaceful message. If you buy a new ORPHANED LAND record, the concept always plays a central role and you should be aware of that fact, have a minimum of knowledge about the different cultural and religious conflicts and be in favour of the message of peace to fully enjoy what the five band members and their high number of guest musicians on different exotic folk instruments, choir duties or orchestral arrangments do. To spread their message, the band has also become more and more accessible and soft without losing a certain progressive and symphonic inspiration. The band though quit growling passages apart of one short exception, brutal riffs or all too dark atmospheres in their sound. The music has become as positive as the message behind. "All Is One" is definitely the band's most accessible record and old fans might feel a little bit disappointed about that development but anybody else should immediately dig this release. Personally, I don't miss the band's earlier sound on here at all because these musicians have developed into something better and more important over the last ten years.

On the other side, the songs on here are catchier and less challenging than ever before. The epic half ballad "Brother," the Symphonic Folk Metal opus "Let The Truce Be Known," or the joyful and danceable "The Simple Man" are instant hits and kick off the record on a very high note. My favourite song is though the opening title track "All is One" that isn't a far cry from THERION with its majestic symphonic arrangments. This song is probably the best song the band has ever written.

The greatness doesn't stop after the first four tracks. For the very first time in the band's career, there are no unnecessary lengths and no filler tracks on this album. The album gets though more and more experimental and progressive as it goes on. An absolutely outstanding highlight is "Fail," one of the most thought out songs ever written in any musical genre. The track combines gripping narrative passages and dark and slow growls with enchanting clean vocals. Musically, the song includes dark and slow passages but also many melodic guitar riffs while the drumming also turns out to be quite dynamical and diversified. The epic story that is told in six unique minutes is also worth some attention. This song doesn't stop creating colourful images in my mind. These six minutes definitely have more content than many entire albums, books or movies but it all sounds so light, peaceful and relaxing at the same time.

The band still has lots of ideas after this masterpiece. What follows is a great instrumental with a good dose of folk instruments and vivid percussions entitled "Freedom." We then get two duets with clean male and female vocals in Hebrew with "Shama 'Im" and in Arabic with "Ya Benaye." Both songs are exotic but accessible and transport a dreamy, positive and spiritual atmosphere. Both songs impress me much and are absolutely authentic and very interesting for those who are interested in foreign cultures and languages. The last two tracks of the album go back to the epic symphonic elements of the opening title track and grow more and more on the listener. At first try, this album may only be very good but after four or five spins, you should have realized that this record is something amazing and special written for the ages to come. One could call this band and thsi record almost historical.

In the end, these entertaining fifty-four minutes are a stunning and intellectually appealing discovery of different cultures, languages and even music genres that all are an essential part of the heart, mind and pulse of the Middle East. This record tells you more about this fascinating region than many documentaries I have watched. When you really take your time to listen to "All Is One," you can feel this certain kind of magic that only a few records have. This record is about more than just music because it builds a bridge between all these different cultures and despite this noble attempt, the music itself still remains catchy, emotional and innovating. That's where ORPHANED LAND become authetntic and sympathetic in comparison to the Bonos and Geldofs of thsi world even though I respect what these guys have done and are still doing. ORPHANED LAND though come directly from a place that is not always easy to live but they concretely try to make things better and they surely love their origins more than anything else. This album even beats the band's own groundbreaking 2004 opus magnum "Mabool – The Story Of The Three Sons Of Seven." Along with AMORPHIS' emotional firework "Circle" and STRATOVARIUS addicting hit album "Nemesis," this album is definitely the best of the not-so-young year 2013. There is no excuse for you to not try this record out right now.

On a closing note, there also exists a limited edition of the record with one brand new bonus track as well as a Turkish version of "All Is One" and an Arabic version of "Children" plus a documentary and a couple of video clips. Die hard fans should get their hands on it but honestly said the bonus material might only distract you from the great album and that's why I wouldn't recommand it to everyone. The regular edition is though absolutely essential for any open-minded Metal maniac.

(Online July 11, 2013)

Three years after the stunning "Stuck," Neo-Grunge band PUDDLE OF MUDD is around with a new record entitled „Abrasive“ that features eleven songs that many people should know. The record features the same line-up as the first release minus Jimmy Allen. The band is working as a trio on this record. It features original versions of later successes "Nobody Told Me," "Said," "Piss It All Away" as well as the later b-side and title track "Abrasive." "All I Ask For" has also been rerecorded and its demo version made it as a rather unkown b-side on a later single.

Compared to the new editions, almost all originals are more atmospheric and laid back and this sinister but somewhat stoned atmosphere is the guiding line of this release as it is sung on "Said" --  "Everyone around me's smoking crack..." That's the way it sounds and this blurry atmosphere makes this record something special. Only "Nobody Told Me" pleases me more in its later version because it's longer and builds up more atmosphere and energy.

Most of the songs on here are surprisingly calm, profound and psychedelic. Many songs are immediately catchy but most of them are atmospheric and musically complex enough to grow on you as time goes by. The psychedelic melody, the effect orientated short guitar solo and the catchy, psychedelic and already highly variable vocals by Scantlin on "Hour Glass Man" are extraordinary for example and this song is better than many of the more famous PUDDLE OF MUDD hits. The dirtier and simplistically instrumentalized, more bass guitar and heavy riff driven "Migraine" remembers many classic Grunge and Punk songs of the late eighties and early 90s without copying them. The weird and perfectly imperfect "All I Ask For" and especially its beginning sounds a little bit as if it came from a private demo tape of Kurt Cobain or JOHN FRUSCIANTE and as if there were loads of drugs around when this haunting and unique piece of music was banned on tape. This song is a quite unique experience that may not be very beautiful to listen to but that's what makes its confusing beauty after all. I let you discover this song to make up your own mind about it.

With a bigger promotion and an earlier release date, this record could have really struck hard. The band has tried out a few new things for this second release and that's great because a band has to keep on developing. Maybe there are a few less straight tracks on here than on the first record that I slightly prefer and especially the second half of "Abrasive" is maybe a little bit too calm and psychedelic for some people but this album also has a special atmosphere and its reason to exist. You really have to be in the right mood to fully appreciate this release while "Stuck" struck faster and was more accessible after all.

Any Grunge fan should know this record that has nothing to envy from the bigger names and reminds me of a slightly more laid back alternative to NIRVANA's "In Utero" for example. Grab this out of print rarity if you can get your hands on it and let's hope that the band is smart enough to rerelease this forgotten pearl one day.

(Online July 10, 2013)

Finnish Melodic Death Metal band CHILDREN OF BODOM is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial and famous Metal bands around the globe. Many people claim that the band keeps releasing the same record all the time, with only minor changes between each release. This is definitely true, but at the same time the band has developed a signature sound with heavy riffs, melodic guitar solos, stunning keyboard, rebellious lyrics, and the dirty vocals of Alexi Laiho. I often hear people say that the band’s last great record was “Hate Crew Deathroll”, now ten years distant. Personally, I also liked the controversial “Are You Dead Yet?” quite a lot, but must admit that the last two studio releases “Blooddrunk” and “Relentless Reckless Forever” were only of an average quality. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the band’s greatest hits release that came out last year, entitled “Holiday at Lake Bodom”: with the amazing new covers of DROPKICK MURPHY’S “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” and especially RICK SPRINFIELD’s jealous stalker anthem “Jessie’s Girl”. Usually, I’m not at all into greatest hits releases as they lack atmosphere, coherence and tend to warm up old things but in this case it was different as all essential CHILDREN OF BODOM songs were finally united on one well filled record. When I read several positive reviews of the new “Halo of Blood”, I noticed a lot of people saying that this album was the band’s greatest record in at least ten years. I figured there was hope for me, and I immediately tried out the new release.

The first single, “Transference”, immediately appealed to me. The great duels between guitar and keyboard go back to the band’s roots, and sound much more joyful and unchained than the darker and heavier records that the band has released in recent years, despite the dark lyrics and the creepy video clip.

Despite my positive first impression, after giving the entire new effort two spins I felt a little bit disappointed. It’s a little hard to describe, but it feels like the band basically did another "safe" record with their typical trademarks, and rarely offer anything courageous or outstanding. Let’s take the opener “Waste of Skin” as a perfect example. The song is energizing and fast, offers solid riffs and a great guitar solo, some dominant keyboard passages, and powerful vocals. This sounds positive, but the whole thing sounds directionless, has no truly catchy passages, and feels like almost any other song from the band’s early years. It’s definitely not a bad track, but I miss the certain something that makes it stay on my mind. From that point of view, I really preferred a more developed and modern opener like “Living Dead Beat”... eight years ago – I think I’m getting old! Many tracks are exchangeable and have exactly the same problem on here, or are even less interesting than the opener.

The two songs that really stand out on this release are “Scream for Silence” and “Dead Man’s Hands On You”. The first track has very melancholic melody that I would describe as very identifiably Finnish. The beautiful instrumental work of this mid tempo track reminds me a lot of other Finnish bands like ETERNAL TEARS OF SORROW or even the great AMORPHIS. The only difference is the vocal work of Laiho. While this kind of song sounds a little bit unusual from CHILDREN OF BODOM, I feel positive about this experiment and the song shows a lot of potential. I wish the band would have done more tracks of this quality, and hope for it on their future releases. “Dead Man’s Hands on You” is one of the most unusual, and perhaps one of the best tracks that the band has ever written. It’s a slow and atmospheric half-ballad with great keyboard work and dark spoken word passages. The song keeps on developing, and offers a very diversified and passionate vocal performance which instills a very melancholic atmosphere. The longest song on this release has a truly majestic feeling, and is filled with enough creative ideas to remain intriguing until the end.

Of course, one also gets some of the band’s famous cover songs on the limited edition version of this release. I was really pleased to hear that the band picked “Crazy Nights” by the legendary Japanese Heavy Metal institution LOUDNESS which I like a lot. Even though Alexi Laiho’s vocals sound very limited in comparison to the original, the band has well-“Bodomized” the song, and it’s definitely the catchiest track on the entire release. The band simply knows how to pick great songs to cover. The other bonus song is a ROXETTE cover - “Sleeping in My Car”, which is a rather unusual track, and that’s exactly why it's so interesting to listen to.

In the end, the question you have to ask yourself is as follows: Are one good single, two truly creative and impressive tracks, and two cool covers enough to purchase an entire album at full price? This record is surely a step in the right direction, and better than the last two albums, but still not on the same level as the group's early material. Die-hard fans will surely get their hands on this record anyway, but more casual fans will be more likely to buy this album at a reduced price sometime around Christmas. Personally, I might just wait for another high quality greatest hits record to come around in another fourteen years or so, and would advise listeners to simply keep their precious money and just be patient.

(Online July 9, 2013)