Training for Utopia
Throwing a Wrench into the American Music Machine
(1999)
Reviewed by Treble Bandoppler
Here comes the shocker of the year. Mark your calendars for October 19th, and then keep checking back every Tuesday after that until it actually comes out, because Solid State is about to throw The Wrench your way. Most people know by now that Training For Utopia are the kings of chaos, but their chaos has always been at least a predictable hybrid of their trademark thick, pulsating sound. The aptly named Throwing a Wrench into the American Music Machine succeeds in destroying all assumed preconceptions. This album is just plain...well...different.
The thickness is gone, replaced by a tinny heaviness, probably a byproduct of the plethora of electronic experimentation utilized on this album. Now, hold your horses, this is not electronica or techno. The electric media used on this album defies any comparison I can come up with, but probably most resembles German industrial, but only in technique. The overall sound can not be pigeonholed into any scene or existing style.
The guitars are crunchy, the drums are straightforward, the vocals are throaty, and every traditional element is laced or covered or mixed in with some electric static and excruciating bass lines worthy of Friday night cruising. This album sounds like it was dipped in electrified chromium. Without the electric coating, this album is probably just straight heavy rock and roll, much more light hearted and impish than their past work. Despite the "toned down" approach in song writing, this album still possesses a certain brutality, but more of a Star Wars violence than their past Braveheart-Apocalypse Now tones. Again, mostly due to the electronic layers.
On a lyrical level, this album is satire, keeping very much in line with their poignant title, evidenced quickly by the opening mockery in form of sample, and then hammered home with songs like "New York City is Overrated" and "The Art of Killing a Copy Machine." Keeping with the theme of bringing the unexpected, there is a beautiful love ballad stuck right in the middle of the album called, "Everything, Including the Stars, Is Falling (Baby)." It stands as an accessible oasis amongst the torrent of bratty massacre surrounding it.
Besides the one love song, this album offers not one drop of ear candy. For ingenuity and innovation and unadulterated creativity, this album is a bit of a landmark, and I give it much respect. I cannot say whether I actually like all of it, but I can safely say that it is all worth listening to. Prepare to be stunned before popping this one in.
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #81Reviewed by David BixlerFollowing an EP, a full-length, and a split EP with labelmates ZAO, Training for Utopia finally releases their second full-length CD. However, unlike the 3 previous efforts, this one will most likely not be found in your local Christian bookstore, as it has no such distribution. Don't take that as a negative, however, as this is an awesome CD. I'll start by attempting to describe the sound. Solid…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by ConradIndustrial Metal. Hmm. The closest reference I can give for this band is Ministry. Ministry though had vocals and melodies you could follow. These vocals are next to unintelligible and on top of that they add distortion to the vocals pretty much the whole time. As far as the songs go, this to me seemed more like an experiment in the studio than actual songs. It's like they were going more for a…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by Tom BastianThese guys are not exactly what I expected. But I also hear this CD is a little bit of a departure from their other stuff. Some parts of this CD I could actually get into, and not being a fan of hardcore or much metal thats saying something. I can now understand why a lot of kids are into this band. They like to mix in a bit of a rap feel to some of their songs, at least as far as beats go. So…Decapolis 2000Reviewed by TimThis recording is really horrible. On top of that, the melodies aren't that great either. I will admit that the arrangement of all the songs are pretty good, but overall, it doesn't change the fact that the songs aren't very strong this time. C-
