Kerrang! The Album ’09
Released: Out Now!!!
Label: Rhino UK
For an effervescent magazine, the album that Kerrang release to showcase the best of the year’s rock/metal/punk/alternative has a pretty simple formula. More conscientious acts – often the heavier bands – are joined by the frivolous, commercial pop-punk and emo offerings. But in its infancy this mix was thought through and the playful acts were self-reflexively funny like the Bloodhound Gang and Blink 182 (who were actually interesting back in the late 90s and early 00s.) It is a tragic sign of the way ‘alternative’ and ‘rock’ is being branded that Nickelback will be rubbing shoulders with Mastadon and Metro Station cosying up to Marilyn Manson. As such, Kerrang! has certainly lost a bit of credibility for being the progenitor of bright young (metal) things. Whoever’s decision it was to select the tracks for this double disc set was either doing it with considerable ill-will, or has been sucked into a vortex of commercial thinking.
Of a two CD release, just through the process of human nature, the first CD is where people will often pay most attention. So an editor would want to put the best music on this lead off CD, right? Apparently, ‘best’ no longer refers to ‘talent’ nowadays; in fact it now correlates with popularity and commercial viability. Starting off with Green Day would amount to a good decision if it wasn’t for the fact that ‘Know Your Enemy’ is a weak song, a clear bounce off the status ‘American Idiot’ achieved. The remaining 20 tracks are predominantly a collection of some of the tinniest, contrived pop songs, which because they have guitars have a veneer of the alternative!
It is perfectly acceptable to lump New Found Glory, You Me At Six, The All-American Rejects, Swound!, Cobra Starship, Taking Back Sunday and Metro Station into the same category of clichéd pop-rock. Risible lyrics, unimaginative instrumentals and vocal parts that sound so samey they might actually just be one big band are commonplace. Reams could be written about Nickelback’s lack of contribution to the musical world, but it would be unjust to waste so much paper. Theory of a Deadman fall into the Nickelback class, and My Chemical Romance might need to reassess their decision to go from fairly impressive emo-rock, to baffling and bland punk.
With that assessment, it is almost dismaying that this only constitutes half the CD let alone half the album. 21 tracks is a good idea if the music is consistently good. Whilst the Kerrang album is a good idea, there are occasions where the music doesn’t warrant the length. I would count the above bands as filler despite many of them being household names. On the positive side of this first CD, Billy Talent have a good track with decent vocals and good accompaniment. The lyrics are standard angsty fare, but when the chorus drops, the hard rock comes through, and the song lifts into really enjoyable, surprisingly enjoyable, rock. Other fair inclusions include ‘STFUppercut’ by The Blackout which sticks to its speed metal guns quite religiously, without trying to be flowery, ‘Rebellious Palpitations’ by Spinnerette, and the excellent goth-rock offering from Chiodos, ‘Lexington (Joey Pea-Pot With A Monkey Face). No marks for the song name! The Prodigy’s appearance on this album bothered me because it seems antithetical for Britain’s foremost and exclusive dance/metal crossover to feature on such a mainstream publication. Despite their wide-ranging popularity, they always seemed to be on the periphery of the mainstream, the old hands appraising any young pretenders. ‘Omen’ is also not a great tune. Taking a lot from drum’n’bass and their less than successful album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned it isn’t as artful as their monster hits. On the other hand, it does have a pumping beat and interesting synthesised hooks to go with Keith Flint’s vocals.
CD 2 starts with another Kerrang favourite, Slipknot. The nine piece is an intriguing band because they have been around now for 10 years and are still doing what they know best, thrashing on drums, guitar and decks with unerring energy. Yet seemingly they are continually flitting in and out of the Metal arena. ‘Sulfur’ the choice for this ‘choice’ cuts collection, is a timely return to form for the Iowans after they threatened to become another nu-metal act to fall into obscurity. This could have been from their self-titled debut, but has a feel of their sophomore effort, Iowa. Its uncanny similarities with ‘Left Behind’ – aggressive verses and almost cultured choruses from Corey Taylor’s amazing tonal alterations – are the main reasons for its successes. But the real coup for Slipknot’s song is the bounding power and liveliness which defined their debut. The scintillating guitar solos, the mind-boggling speed of Joey Jordison’s drumming and the excellent additions of decks and percussion make this song one of the best that has played on this hitherto disappointing album. In complete contrast, track two from DragonForce is almost anachronistic. Hair metal, Bruce Dickinson style vocals, exhausting and face-melting guitar solos and the kind of mythical imagery that is only not out of place in a metal band, and I began to wonder if I had jumped to the 1980s. Killswitch Engage, who follow, have drawn on certain hair metal traits – namely the guitar playing and occasional less aggressive vocals – and topped it off with some throat-shredding verses. The song is more gimmicky as a result, and the lyrics go no further than confirming this; with mentions of regeneration and lack of fulfillment coming to the listener’s attention.
To persevere with such unoriginality albeit from a genre that proves difficult to innovate, is a difficult business and it is only until the listener gets to Disturbed, eight tracks after ‘Sulfur’ that they find another song that is less numbing than the previous seven. Incidentally, that list features Marilyn Manson, a creative genius in the early stages of his career, now rendered derivative. Disturbed’s ‘The Night’ is not their best single ever, but has some of the more listenable qualities that some metal obviously doesn’t. The lyrics also give reminders of the talent that was exhibited on The Sickness, their first album.
Saddened to see what paths some bands have gone down, Papa Roach again have failed in their attempt to show how they have evolved since Infest and the hard cum rap rock anthem, ‘Last Resort’. Insipid emo does not sound any better than it has in the past. The presence of Fightstar on the same CD as Lamb Of God jars considerably, the latter proving that death metal, speed metal and black metal can still sound authentic. A riotous guitar piece to ‘Set To Fail’, along with brutal bass and drums makes this a rare winner on the second, heavier disc.
What is noticeable on the second CD is that Kerrang have tried to stick to their roots as being the magazine that gives us the top crop of global metal as well as alternative music, to rival the more specific Metal Hammer magazine. The emphasis on thrashing riffs, speed guitar soloing, visceral and indistinguishable lyrics is ever apparent on CD 2 and that is the case for the last six tracks, all with varying degrees of letdown.
Perhaps it is too simple to say that Metal is the lifeblood of die-hard fans or rebellious teenagers, but the shocking return of good songs on a 42 track album is something that the editors of Kerrang might want to consider for future releases. The Metal world has passed through the nu-metal generation, Deftones, Fear Factory, Korn, Foo Fighters, dare I say it, Limp Bizkit and the others can no longer be called upon to produce the ear-splitting masterpieces that defined the 90s and early 00s. Kerrang! The Album need not die out, but some more deliberation on track numbers and type might make it more of a crowd pleaser.
Words : John Elmes
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