Skinny Puppy: hanDover - Album Review

Skinny Puppy
hanDover
Rating: Grrrr

While the heyday of industrial music has long come and gone, there are still a few bands that have kept the fires burning and have evolved and changed with the times. During the 80s and early 90s, Skinny Puppy was a force to be reckoned with; the long stretch of albums from Mind the Perpetual Intercourse, Cleanse Fold and Manipulate, Vivisect VI, and Too Dark Park, were an ever increasing batch of amazing sonic exploration. The core group of cEvin Key, Nivek Ogre, and Dwayne Goettel used each album to take their sound to the next level. It wasn't until the fractured recording sessions for The Process for this key collaboration to fall apart, ending with the drug overdose of Goettel, their chief sonic architect. After a short split, Key and Ogre buried the hatchet and began recording again, the two albums they've released, The Great Wrong of the Right, and Mythmaker, have been decent, yet somewhat uninspired, coasting on their regular bag of tricks and not really making any new statements. With their third, post Goettel release hanDover, Skinny puppy seemed to have carefully thought about the sound and direction of the album, making it a far more cohesive statement than the last two records. While it is still not anywhere near the complexity and sheer originality of Vivisect VI and Too Dark Park, this is by far their best record in years.

hanDover begins slowly and pulls you in one track at time. The slow pulsating "Ovirt" actually has Ogre almost singing, rather than his usual harsh guttural howls. The music is a combination of skittering drum programming, bubbling synths, and stark atmospherics.



The maturity continues with "Cullorblind," whose throbbing menace surrounds Ogre's haunted vocal while guitars sneak up from behind and take over on the chorus.



"Wavy," the best track on the album, merges droning synths, almost post-dubstep programming with melancholic acoustic guitars and plaintive piano. Ogre's voice, manipulated and tweaked within an inch of its life, sounding like a ghost crying from hell.



The album progresses from this rather muted opening to the middle part of the record, where the beats become more forceful and urgent, the music becoming almost martial. "AshAs" has military style drum fills glitchy electronics. Ogre's constant of refrain of "my heart can't contain the missing fragments of memories" is chilling.



The record gains momentum with tracks like the driving and intense "Icktums" and the industrial thrash and clang of "Point." "Gambatte" charges forward at an industrial pace, the pounding drums and almost jaunty keyboard riff make for one of Skinny Puppy's most ebullient tracks.



The only real missteps on the record are the horror freakshow track "Brownstone" which is just too uncomfortable and experimental, and feels out of place on the album. "NoiseX" is a laudable attempt at drill n bass sonics, but at 7 minutes, is aimless and goes on far too long for any enjoyment. But two more tracks make up for these minor issues. "Vyrisus" wears its sleazy electro on its sleeve.



And "Village" takes the mistake of "Brownstone" and turns it into some better. The growling guitars and booming vocals are truly stunning industrial horrorcore.



I didn't expect to enjoy this record near as much as I do. The songwriting is tight and music is consistently surprising and interesting. For the past few albums they have felt on autopilot. With hanDover, there is the spark of old Skinny Puppy, and I hope this breathes new life into their already stellar career.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.