Now if ever there was a more bizarre album in the annals of the nu-metal/rock movement, I've yet to hear it. This is the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde of the new millennium rock world.

 

Opening with a slice of raging guitar-led rock that features a seriously deranged vocal performance from the singer, amid a hail of riffs and rhythms, the album bursts into life with a vengeance and promises a wild ride into the dark side of modern rock for just under two stunning minutes. But then track two comes along and suddently it's clattering electronic drum rhythms, cyclical electronic leads, a rippling piano, deep dubby bass and a track that's more like an electronic ambient-trance music than anything, for just under four minutes.

 

Now you're guessing - but track three emerges and rumbles along on a mighty undercurrent of wicked fuzzed electric bass, drums and lightly treated vocals. As the guitars erupt and ignite but then it suddenly switches back, then drops down to nothing before exploding in your face as a hail of riffs rhythms match the impassioned vocal that rage down below in the mix, the whole thing eventually pouring out a molten sea of guitars, lead electric bass that really delivers and crunching drums, easily one of the best tracks on the album, at just over five minutes long.

 

The eight minute fifth track is similar in feel and sound, only here takes more time to build and smoulders a lot rather than explodes, once again that massive bass right upfront as, halfway through, the band becomes positively incendiary and the whole thing exhibits dynamics and sound that makes it so riveting to hear.

 

Track 6 returns to the electronic side of the fence with stuttering, fast-paced electro-percussive beats, embellished with equally stuttering synths while an electric piano lead languidly flows on and off, as the piece sails into this industrial drum 'n' bass territory that's hard and heavy but nothing to do with rock, for sure.

 

Then the pattern repeats - a clutch of storming rock tracks followed by a more languid, almost jazzy, instrumental with keys, drums and samples, followed by a more anthemic rock track with some truly soaring vocal work above the wickedly bass-driven undercurrents, and ending, even more bizarrely, on a one minute acoustic track.

 

Head-bending to say the least, I have to admit that I enjoyed it immensely but it's definitely an album for the more adventurous, open-minded listener.