Welcome to my very first posting for “I actually bought this crap”. Basically, each week I will delve into my vast CD collection and pull out some of the worst albums I own and then discuss and mock the album in question.
First up this week is:
Mudvayne – Lost and Found (2005)
Admittedly I could have chosen much worse albums, but sometimes it’s worth leaving the best (well in this case worse obviously) until later. Some may argue that Lost and Found is a good album, at least compared to the albums that came after it, but they would be wrong. With the release of Lost and Found, came the precise point in which Mudvayne began their transition from a once fantastic Metal band, into a complete joke.
Before Chad and Greg were writing songs about being alcoholics and cowboy douchebags with the shitty supergroup, Hell Yeah, they were once more involved in a Math Metal band known as Mudvayne. Following the release of the band’s debut, L.D. 50, Mudvayne burst onto the scene, but at times, unfairly being lumped into the Nu-Metal genre and being compared to bands such as Slipknot. Mudvayne were very different from Slipknot though. Rather than being a straight heavy band, they instead used altering time signatures and progressive song writing techniques that made L.D.50 stand out from the crowd. Chad mixed diverse screams, shouts, moans and beautiful singing with fantastic proficiency. The guitars were heavy, simple, but always fitted the music perfectly. What helped the album stand out the most arguably though, was Ryan Martinie’s unique Bass playing and style. The bass was always prominent in the music, but never obscene like the bass in Korn could be. Mudvayne were a band that showed great potential… So what went wrong? And why does Lost and Found suck so much?
The beginning of the downfall began with the band’s second album, ironically titled The End of All Things to Come. Although this album still kept the Mudvayne sound that they had developed on their debut, the songwriting wasn’t as strong and as a result, the album just couldn’t compare. There were also signs of the band moving into a more radio-friendly direction. With the band’s third album, Lost and Found, the band just completely lost it. The band discovered what I like to call the “commercial machine”. Basically you insert the band’s music through one end of the machine, and out of the other end drops a nice dollop of crap and an even bigger dollop of $$$. It’s a shame a lot of band’s discover this machine, because it’s caused so many once good bands to end up producing mediocre generic music.
Lost and Found’s opening track Determined is basically a poor attempt at recreating Dig, the popular song from L.D. 50. It’s the best song on the album, despite being a bit of a rehash, but it does unfortunately pale in comparison to their early work. Second track, Pushing Through, basically (again!) re-hashes riffs from their song, Internal Primates Forever, from their first album. I’m sensing a pattern here…
The rehashing of older material doesn’t last though, because by the time MTV favourite, Happy? plays, the band begin a full blown radio-friendly album of trash. Happy? in all fairness, isn’t actually that bad, but the songs that come after it kind of are. Not just that, but they’re completely boring. Chad’s lyrics, once covering interesting topics such as serial killers, philosophy and science, have also taken a turn for the worst, with songs featuring rants telling people to “turn off the TV, turn off the radio”. Well something like that anyways…
The album is bland, it’s boring, and it’s made even worse by the fact prior to this Muvayne were actually a good band. The albums that came after this were even worse, but fortunately I wasn’t stupid enough to buy them.
