It's not like Training for Utopia were ever an easy band to listen to. Their most "accessible" work was the band's debut ep, The Falling Cycle. But TFU always delivered a brand of metal that was so chaotic and noise driven that even the biggest of heavy music fan would struggle to dig TFU. With Throwing a Wrench, the band really switched things up.
There's not a bar to measuring line for Throwing a Wrench. You might say one part old school Nine Inch Nails, meets any Mike Patton project, meets a blender and drill having sex.... But still sounding like TFU. And if you've never heard this album you're confused, and you should be.
50,000 Screaming TFU Fans Can't Be Wrong is a killer opening track. The static guitar chord being played over a spoken word collection of samples where the phrase Rock and Roll is a message of sin sent from the Devil himself is repeated over and over until Ryan Clark screams "Are You Ready" and he band explodes into a chaotic disjointed metalcore mess. It's a great song and probably the most straight forward track on the album.
But then things get odd. White Boy's Burden, The State of Wyoming Is Worthless, Burt Reynolds Vs Godzilla 1999, and Tennessee Midget are all just different tracks. White Boy's Burden is a techno thrash song, while The State of Wyoming is just weird and noisy. There's a level of math metal to these songs as each track has starts and stops, and calculated glitches that create a lot of textures and styling’s but it's hard for an average metal fan to really grasp and take hold of.
And then Training for Utopia catches everyone off guard with Everything Including the Stars in Falling (Baby), an acoustic song... Right smack dab in the middle of all this chaos and noise and randomness, is one of the most beautiful songs you'll hear. My 15 year old brain wasn't really interested in hearing an acoustic song on a metal record but even back then, there was something so appealing and nice about the song that I never skipped the track.
The best track on the album is the great New York City is Overrated. This track got me hooked on the album and is just a killer song with a great, easy to sing hook.
The guitar riffs are actually great, and the drums take on a drum machine quality on most the album, but there's a technical aspect that just works. Even now Throwing a Wrench can be a difficult listen for me but there's something about this record that just resonates as great with me
2 comments:
When I think of TFU I'm reminded of Jane Doe by Converge. Every time I listen to that album I get pissed off and irritated and usually shut it off. But for some reason I come back to that album again and again, and I think its because I want to like it as seemingly so many others do. That album pushed the limits of hardcore (and music) at the time, and I think TFU did the same, but in a less irritating way.
I love Jane Doe. One of the best hardcore/metalcore recrds of the 90's. I alwas thought Jane Doe slayed.
TFU pushed the boundries but I don't know how much of an impact they had. They never get the credtthey deserve You would think Norma Jean would've been heavily influenced by TFU but they always credit Zao.
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