Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park
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Free Music Notes for Too Dark Park
Free Music Review: Industrial Heaven.. Turned to trash
Hit: 5 Stars
This is my next favorite S.P. album after Last Rights. It's a little less dark, but not any easier to swallow. I see a lot of ppl saying this album is accessible and should be their first S.P. album for ppl trying to find their music. Well i think that could turn away a lot of potential fans. This album is dark, aggressive, complex and i have to agree with the guy who said he hated it for a week, but now that i appreciate it to the fullest and realize it's potential I'm so sorry i ever doubted it. Just give it the time, and APPRECIATION is the key.. An idiot friend of mine says anyone can do this, anyone can make music on machines (yeah he really doesn't get it, i know) but at this time I'm sure it was a complex and daunting task. This will be remembered in the future, when music has died off eventually, I know it for sure, it is evolution.
1. Convulsion - Opening track sets off with cryptic sounds and ogre ranting like the world is ending. Really sets the stage of the album bringing everything to a climatic end with sounds only hell could conjure up.
2. Tormentor - This one actually has a danceable beat, but it gets clouded by creepy synths and ogre talking about mental shock from whatever he's on lol. Not an intense track, but trippy and creepy enough to be a S.P. classic
3. Spasmolytic - Yeah this one is an all time fav. for reasons - 1. pacing is so insane charles manson would O.D. 2. It has a funny synth beat that is the only resemblance of structure in a mass rambling about decay and drug paranoia. One of the best written pieces they have ever done. Check out the video too one youtube, nutty as hell
4. Rash Reflection - Lots of structure here. drum machines, violins and even ogre are all coherent, but the creepy lyrics about radiation or some sort of disease ridden earth are very unnerving.
5. Natures Revenge - More beats with layers and layers of dark soundscapes and composition, again there is an underlying layer of purity in this one that makes it somewhat accessible, just try to bare Nivek's talks of stabbing ppl and everyone's worst fears coming to life.
6. Shore Lined Poison - Creepy intro, and concentrated beats that some would consider danceable, but as soon as ogre begins the environmental degradation rant, and the sirens kick in and the high pitched synth waves attack, but right in the middle, i tell ya right in the middle man. There's that one point where it just becomes unclouded, less dense and everything is revealed. I almost cried, lol.. seriously though
7. Grave Wisdom - A lot of varying synth work here, nice horror intro too, but i agree with what someone said that it sounds a hell of a lot like a laser show lol, a very dark, and compelling.. laser show.. The apocalypse is revealed in the crafty end of times tune.
8. T.F.W.O. - Wow, the guitars aren't mixed low like convulsion and clouded with noise lol, but once this one gets near the end it breaks down, kind of like system shock. There is melody in this one as well at the end, a very funny surprise considering whats coming.
9. Morpheus Laughing - OK I'm surprised i haven't heard more talk/praise over this masterpiece, it's the craziest song they have ever made (maybe knowhere? comes close) About 5 layers of synth that is straight from a horror flick dominate soundscapes from hell and ogre just rants on and on lol , maybe a rhyme here or there. Nothing but cryptic talk of horror, human suffering, carnage and animal testing, i can play this one over and over and never tire, in my top 3 S.P. tracks 4 sure.
10. Reclamation - Bass sounds alot like choralone, but ogre is incomprehensible and soon drowned out by all the noise and muffled sound that dominates and at the end, nothing but samples and a pounding thunder clap to end one of the greatest albums of all-time.
It's not for everyone, hell, its not for anyone, who really did S.P. intend this for? those striving for greatness or just the need to experiment?? well if I'm alone i hope someone out there is like me and see's that greatness is in the strange and those who are willing dive in, you will be changed.. Forever.
Free Music Review: How this came to be my favorite Skinny Puppy album!
Hit: 5 Stars
This was the first SP album I ever heard. I was still in high school in 97 and my coworker and I had similar musical taste. I was listening to Coal Chamber's first album (I know, not quite SP, right?) in the shop radio and she said, "I should bring in some Skinny Puppy. I'll bet you love em." So she grabbed this tape and gave it to me to borrow. If any of you remember the original pressing of the cassette tape, I think it was a white cover with just a pink SP logo on the front... needless to say I didn't expect too much after seeing that. So that night I listened to it and I was so very confused. I could hear some incredibly awsome guitar riffs and beats in the background, but for some reason this band decided to layer in some crazy chaotic noises all over it so you never got a steady beat- like with typical bands.
I listened to the tape a couple of times and after a few listens I still didn't "get it". The only thing I could remember after the album was over was Ohgr muttering, "Kiss the master's feet." It still haunts me to this day. So I gave her back the tape a few days later, I didn't even copy it because I didn't think I'd really listen to it again. Well, fast forward a couple of months and you'll see me in a mom and pop record store. They dealt mainly in imports but had a fairly wide selection of out of prints and some obscure no-name bands. Well, curiosity killed my cat and I decided to see what else Skinny Puppy had done. So I saw a few cds, but none with the white cover and pink symbol on the front. So, I asked the guy that worked there which SP album was the best and he pointed me to "Too Dark Park" with it's strangely child like cover art. I figured, "What the hell, If this is the best..."
Imagine my surprise when I put this in my car stereo and cranked the bass up. I was stunned. THIS is their best album!? So I actually kept my car parked in that spot and didn't move until I was done with the first song, "Convulsion" which ends up being like my 4th favorite SP song. I don't know how or why, but something clicked. I finally got it. Maybe it was my 10" woofer or just how music sounds different in the car, or maybe it was because the tape was a lesser quality than the cd I had just purchased. I was speachless. I quickly scanned each song and listened to a minute or so of every song. When I was back to track #1, I turned my car off and walked back into that store with my checkbook. I bought every other SP album they had. You should have seen the look in that store clerks eyes.
Since then I have been a die hard SP fan and they remain my favorite band. To this day, no other album by any artist has ever had such an emotional impact on my musical taste. I love every SP album for different reasons, but this is the only one I consider to be perfect. Maybe it's my emotional attachment to it, but to me it is flawless.
This is an extremely savage, angry, but clever record. The layering in each song is nothing short of brilliant. If you dissect any one song apart, you could find enough music to create 2 or even 3 songs by any "normal" band. The thing I love about SP is that there is always a slight hint of the 80s in their music. Deep down, the underlying core of the music is 80s disco/rock with a sinister edge. Maybe more so in the older music than the "Too Dark Park" era. That might be a bad explaination of it, but that's what I think. Everyone should listen to this album, even if you hate it, it so deserves a listen. Turely one that will never be forgotten like so many mass produced shiesty bands today.
So now I say unto thee, "Kiss the master's feet!"
Free Music Review: The Album that Changed Me from a Skinny Puppy Listener to a Skinny Puppy Fan
Hit: 5 Stars
I've already written a review for the SP album that made me take another look at Skinny Puppy (The Process) and Too Dark Park is the album that I listened to after The Process. This is the album that made me look for ALL of the other SP albums and realize that I had overlooked something when I just tried downloading certain songs.
Now, I came to this album after The Process because I already knew the song "Spasmolytic" and absolutely loved it. It was so bizarre, noisy, scary, and yet still made you want to move. I'm sure if Britney or the current pop-skanks heard this song, they would hurl. I was not disappointed with the rest of the album.
What I've realized is that Skinny Puppy takes some patience to enjoy. At first, most of their songs just sound like random noise. Just finding a few songs here and there is NOT a good way to find out if you'll like Skinny Puppy. It's best to hear their albums from start to finish (though, I'll admit the only tracks I generally skip over are the closer tracks... especially "Download" from Last Rights). The more you listen you realize how many layers of sounds there are in each and every track on the CD.
On this CD, it's mostly electronic, but you'll hear a guitar every once-in-awhile, just not the way you expect (just listen to TWFO).
"Convulsion" is the first track and it's so noisy and chaotic (generally like most songs on this album) that it took me a few listens to really "get it". Now, it's one of my favorite SP songs.
"Shore Lined Poison" is a song that is interesting due to the very unpredictable and confusing beat in the song. The first few times I listened to it I felt like the beat should be a certain way and wondered if my CD was skipping. After a while, I got used to it. I'm not a musician, so I'm not sure how to describe it other than it feels like they "skip a beat". It's just this kind of simple chaos that makes this CD so complex, interesting, and different.
Most of the songs on this album are full of electronic noise and distortion, but still manage to be danceable and it is MUSIC and not just random noise. Underneath the layers of noise there are songs that are made all the better by the layered chaos that surrounds them.
All of the songs are great, but "Nature's Revenge" and "Rash Reflection" are probably the 2 songs that are the most accessible on the CD as they're slightly less chaotic than the rest of the CD.
Finally, at the end is a typical SP closing track, "Reclamation". I say typical as SP love to close their albums with a very noisy track that pretty much sums up the whole CD with a few minutes of industrial noise that's barely musical. I still listen to reclamation with the CD as it does a good job of wrapping it up, but it's definitely not a track I'd skip to. Luckily, it's shorter than my least favorite SP closer, "Download".
All-in-all, this is an amazing album and is a MUST for any fan of industrial or dark electronic music. If you don't like it the first time, don't give up! You'll regret it... give it a few listens and soon you'll get it and will be a Skinny Puppy fan like myself.
All tracks are great, but here are my picks for the best: "Convulsion", "Spasmolytic", "Rash Reflection", and "Morpheus Laughing".
Free Music Review: Sonic Masochism
Hit: 5 Stars
"Too Dark Park" is the best-loved Skinny Puppy album amongst hardcore fans and certainly a good place to start for the uninitiated. SP's previous effort "Rabies" (1989) is slightly easier to listen to, mostly due to slick production courtesy of Al Jourgensen (please tell me you know who that is). However, unless your mind is of the warped and delinquent variety, you'll find that Skinny Puppy is ANYTHING but easy listening. Skinny Puppy is a horror show for the ears, sonic masochism, a terrible but engaging nightmare that you can't wake from. In that respect, TDP is arguably the most quintessential Puppy album. It's harsh, dense, chaotic, and angry as hell, a culmination of the sound that they had been driving towards since they banded in 1982. (Their next album, 1991's "Last Rights", is a slight departure into experimentalism while 1996's "The Process" sounds like a completely different band.)But be forewarned. I suspect that most people won't be able to recognize this as music. People who consider industrial-lite fluff like Filter and Stabbing Westward "cutting edge" or "hardcore" are in for a big, big (big) shock. In fact, they'd probably do best to pass on this band; I doubt they'd "get it". But you're probably here because you want something BIZARRE and DIFFERENT!
"Too Dark Park" jerks to life with "Convulsion", probably the most dense and chaotic track on the album. Inter-cut with samples from a documentary on LSD, Nivek Ogre's vocals and lyrics make it clear upfront that he's just about lost it. "Tormentor", the next track, is my favorite. Cevin Key and Dwayne Goettel morph what could've been a relatively standard industrial-dance track into something dark and sinister. "Spasmolytic" is just flat out insane. Phrases and words are strung together in maniacal fashion, suggesting an intense and hellish drug withdrawal whilst living in urban squalor. The single version of "Spasmolytic" gets the minimalist treatment, making it spookier and decidedly better (it should've been on this album, but you can get it on "The Singles Connection"). "Rash Reflection" shares a similar electro-sound with "Tormentor", but is decidedly more claustrophobic and terrifying. I'll stop here, but suffice it to say that every track is its own private nightmare and every one is equally as good as the next.
The lyrics are written in a drug-crazed William S. Burroughs style of free association. It's hard to understand what's going on, but that's all part of the experience. TDP forces you to live the nightmare of drug addiction/withdrawal and the mental chaos associated with it; the music adds emotional and visceral chaos, churning the whole vile mixture out of control. In case you're wondering, you don't have to be an addict or ex-addict to appreciate it - I've never touched a hard drug in my life. Drugs are a central theme, but there's so much more going on here.
As great as this album is, it's not even my favorite Skinny Puppy album. In the beginning they had a lo-fi 80's synth sound that was just perfect, plus they used a lot of obscure horror movie samples = fun times. So while this album is great, it gets even better.
Brap on.
Free Music Review: Heaven's trash Fixation turning mass direction Having a relationship without guilt
Hit: 5 Stars
I'll say it upfront: 1990's 'Too Dark Park' is without a doubt one of the band's finest recordings. It is bizarre; full of grating squeals, grinding bits of guitar, live and programed drumming, amelodic gravely chanting instead of singing, esoteric stream of conscience lyrics, violent screams, frantic and paranoid samples. Oh, and you can dance to it... that is if you like to dance to the sounds of personal dementia and environmental destruction. Sicko.
This is probably the album I'd recommend to newbies who'd like to hear later period Skinny Puppy slightly (barely) managing to be somewhat accessible. Don't get me wrong, this isn't easy to get, it walks that fine line between catchy and coconut-crazy noise. But that's Skinny Puppy for you.
Stylistically, 'Too Dark Park' took the industrial rock influence of their '89 album, 'Rabies' and combined it the the bleak dystopia of their '87 album 'Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate.' In fact, I would call this a sort of spiritual successor to 'CFM'. 'TDP' has the horrific edge, thematic unity and dense multi-layered sound of 'Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate,' aspects that intermediate albums moved away from.
The first few tracks: "Convulsion," "Tormentor," "Spazmolytic," and "Rash Reflection," start the album off strongly in a hyperactive haze of intricate songwriting. Their are bits of guitar here and there and Ogre's robotic voice as creepy and urgent as it gets. "Spazmolytic" is probably my favorite song on the album, an aggressive, frenetic dance track about narcotics that is psychedelic and catchy despite the wealth of neurosis that obviously went into it (remember the band had been heavy into 'hard' drugs well before this). In fact the whole album is about abuse, of one's body and of nature.
"Nature's revenge" and "Shore lined poison" slow the tempo a bit, and bring depredation of the environment to the forefront. The former is a slow, almost quiet dirge with Ogre whispering his cyborg lament over a spare beat and some surprisingly pretty strings. The latter is pure chaotic madness as Ogre whispers and roars lines like: "life given river, deformed!" over a mess of samples, crashing drums and synth hits. Screams give way to piercing sirens. It's pretty harrowing.
"Grave Wisdom" and "T.W.F.O." bring the album back to its up-tempo beginnings with a fairly straightforward and danceable electronic rock... "T.W.F.O" is probably the only song I would consider slightly weak on the album, and that because it is just a bit Too straight forward for the context of Too Dark Park.
"Morpheus Laughing" and "Reclaimation" bring the album to a grim, chaotic end. "Morpheus Laughing" in particular, being a statement about animal testing, is emotional and arresting.
All in all, TDP represents Skinny Puppy's most intense work and is one of my favorite albums. While obviously this can't be everyone's cup of tea, this is truly a pretty special recording, if for no other reason than the incredible creativity and uniqueness of the sound. Five stars from me, and a wholehearted recommendation to anyone even thinking about buying this album.