outlook hazy, ask again later

Well, I have no business really giving a review since I bought it a week ago and haven't really absorbed it yet. But it is growing on me in a way that the last few albums haven't.

Looking back there have only been a couple songs I enjoyed on everything post "The Mind." And at first all the new songs sounded the same to me. Just a blur of obnoxious guitars. But now it's really sinking in. Give me a week or so longer and I'll let you know. I already know I love the title track, and the Magazine cover song "The Light Pours out of Me" is pretty cool too.

It's also kind of hard to keep this band in perspective, since everything they've done has been ripped off so often the last six or seven years, and so poorly. There are so many bad ripoffs that the first generation ripoffs like Korn are almost starting to sound good. If you're into that shit. And I'm not. I haven't listened to heavy rock music in a long time, and for good reason.

Nu-metal bands should take time to kiss Ministry's asses.

But despite all that, I bought this album out of curiosity, but the surprises inside are what's keeping me interested.

Way back when I listened to a lot of agitating aggressive music like this, it was giving me something I needed, somehow. I was angry, and scared, and this sort of thing made me feel like I wasn't so alone. When I cranked it up in the car I even felt like a badass. I sang "Stigmata" onstage with a punk band, just as a guest, and I think I even scared the crowd a little. They didn't realize that as terrified as i was, I could do little more than scream and jump and posture myself like a convict. Just being there scared the piss out of me.

But I'm not so angry anymore. I can appreciate subtlety and I'm starting to learn how to play the game in life. So this stuff is more like a walk down memory lane, than a mind expanding rant against a fucked up world.