Skinny Puppy: The Greater Wrong of the Right (2004, SPV)
Skinny Puppy, last seen freaking out parents in the days of flannel and Teen Spirit, reunited a few years ago after an acrimonious breakup and have just released their second post-breakup album, The Greater Wrong of the Right. First, the good news: on the new record, reunited Skinny Puppy principals cEvin Kay and Nivek Ogre still make intricately produced, synth-heavy industrial spook music replete with giant soundscapes, processed vocals, and lyrics about alienation, decay, and global conspiracy.
There’s bad news too - it’s lame.
The early 1990s were a heady time for heavy music. Literally dozens of worthwhile bands were making interesting albums. From the porno-cabaret of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult to the relentless pounding of KMFDM and Front 242, not to mention the commercial crunch of Ministry and NIN, there was never a better time to be a goth. Back then, before NIN’s “Closer” got Top 40 airplay, before White Zombie rode Al Jourgenson’s and Nivek Ogre’s best ideas to platinum stardom, there was some cool music being made by guys who wore fake blood and festooned their cover art with H.R. Giegeresque tableaux.
I spent countless hours in college listening to Skinny Puppy’s Too Dark Park (Nettwerk, 1990) and Last Rights (Nettwerk, 1991), two seriously creepy slices of psychosis. However, by 1993 the Pup were more concerned with drugs and side projects than with putting out good records, and they slipped completely off my radar.
When The Greater Wrong of the Right arrived, I was excited to see where the state of the art of industrial music now stands. Although I still pull out my industrial records from time to time (and the best of them have aged fairly well), I was curious as to how Skinny Puppy had updated their sound. From the moment I looked at the cover art, however, I had misgivings.
Worms, cadavers, meathooks, and a dude eating a millipede sandwich don’t exactly bring the creeps like they used to. Actually, that’s backwards. Worms, cadavers, meathooks, and a dude eating a millipede sandwich bring the creeps exactly like they used to, and that’s a little disappointing. I hoped that the Pup had learned a few new tricks.
For better or worse, the music on The Greater Wrong of the Right lives up to the promise of the cover art. Sounding like a transmission direct from 1993, the group don’t as much reinvent as reinhabit their old sound.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
I can understand your comments on the album, but I guess I feel a little less self-conscious about listening to them today than you do. It's not a brilliant album like Too Dark Park or Last Rites, but I don't think it's as bad as you say it is. You can read my review to see how I felt about it.
2 - Johno
Tom, fair enough. I didn't expect to dislike the album as much as I did. It's not that I feel self-conscious about listening to them; rather, I feel like I've already heard what they're doing now, and expected something more. I guess it's like Thomas Pynchon doing Vineland or (blogcritic fave) Elvis Costello doing Brutal Youth. I'm inclined to say, "yes, very nice, seen that, what's next?"
And also, to be fair, in the decade since I last seriously listened to SP, I've grown very, very tired of hearing heavy music in the mixolydian mode, and that's the very first thing you hear on "Greater Wrong." But that's just me and my wonky self.
3 - Smenkharon
I would rather listen to the new album than Last Rites any day! Greater Wrong is at least a cohesive album, it is what The Process was meant to be originally. SP were always hit or miss depending on how far into their addictions they were. I agree it is more a reinhabiting than a reinvention, but it is nice for me to hear what they might have sounded like minus all the heroin. Bizarre coincidence, my co-worker just walked in with Duck's old drum stool, he was volunteering at Nettwerk as he has done for years, and they asked if he wanted it as they were going to toss it otherwise! Strange timing, right as I am typing this!
4 - Temple Stark
Johno,
I'm sharing the skinny love. I posted your review to Advance.net.
5 - somepersononthenet
I thought this was one of their best albums. They use some elements of the old and meld it with modern sounds. I hear some Aphex Twin in there with Goneja and Ghostman. I really loved it but I noticed a lot of people who just want them to make really dark angry stuff or want them to repeat TDP hate it. On the other hand you think it sounds like their older material. I don't really get the comment about the harder guitar stuff. If you skip the first two tracks the rest hardly has any guitars in it at all and when it gets to that point it hardly sounds like anything Skinny Puppy made previously and I disagree about other bands they've influenced sounding like they do at that point. I thought it was a pretty creative album. You hear hints of older sounds like on Ghostman but for the most part it's produced differently, the vocals sound different, and they used modern electronic tools like VST instruments on computers. I just found your review to be quit odd since it flys right in the face of what oldschool fans are saying they dislike about it.
6 - Adolfo MZe
Deffinetly you lost your sense ok SP essence...The Greater..is the perfect evolution of this oneline kevin dominated Too Many years ( in reference of Too Dark...)..thnx god for this present ??¿¿ Sp re-invent...and..since today...nobody do music like them. So..continue sleeping.