Schizophrenia can cripple an artist's career before it starts - trying to be too many things at once, not settling on a style, trying to imitate another band rather than creating a personal style. Wyrick is prone to schizophrenia, unable to decide between industrial and metal, but when he gets locked into the right groove, there's something really good in there. You just have to wade through the well-meaning attempts and unsteady style to find it. Wyrick is just one man - Travis Wyrick - but his debut on Rugged Records, Mental Floss, proves he really does know how to play everything. The question is, what is he trying to be?
The first taste of this album leads the listener to believe it's an industrial project, in the Nine Inch Nails/Argyle Park/Mortal vein. It's not quite up to the high caliber talent of those industrial veterans, but it makes a very credible effort. At least, until about the fourth track. Multiple personalities set in, and suddenly you're listening to a metal album. And I mean metal - we're talking Lovewar, Tourniquet, maybe even a little late Stryper. It's enough to make you wonder what decade it was recorded in.
Wyrick has a fairly strong vocal quality when he's not buried beneath distortion effects (for that industrial feel); he can tend toward Pete Stewart (Grammatrain) on occasion, but the obvious metal background destroys it completely. With the exception of "Sacrifice," which has some interesting acoustic things going on in the middle of the programming and heavier guitar, the middle of Mental Floss is pure metal, and not all that well done. Then, suddenly, we're industrial again! But that's a good thing: "Down" is the best track on the album, heavy and aggressive and loud like a good industrial song (a la Mortal) should be. "I Fall" is also pretty good.
Granted, the instruments are played well, and the production is on track, but that alone cannot rescue Wyrick from drowning in dated, substandard metal and failed attempts to be either Grammatrain or Nine Inch Nails. The handful of industrial tracks do show future potential, if he could just stop being schizophrenic and start exploring his talents, possibly with a band or another producer off of whom to bounce ideas.
One thing I can say positively about Wyrick is that the lyrical writing is very good. Even in the metal songs, the lyrics communicate well and have growing touches of creativity. There is a habit of making strange rhymes or forgetting to rhyme at all, which isn't necessarily a bad thing - there's no formula that has to be followed. Wyrick writes to the non-Christian, trying several different angles from which to approach the need to be saved and rewards for seeking God, as in "Supernatural:"
Have you ever talked to Jesus? I think your God He's got the time... That's when I'm glad that I found God. You'd better hope that you find...
Besides the "open your eyes, you need to be saved" theme, there are a couple songs made out to be prayers: thanks for what Jesus did ("Sacrifice"), and a firsthand lament from the viewpoint of one of the disciples witnessing the crucifixion ("To You"). For the most part, the writing is pretty strong, and has the potential to really go somewhere, if we could just find the right music to support the words.
Some people refuse to believe metal is dead. These people will no doubt enjoy Mental Floss from beginning to end. My suggestion is not to skip the album entirely, but be prepared for a double-minded ride that could scare off some listeners. Maybe next time around, Wyrick should settle on a style. I'd like to see where he could go.
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #72Reviewed by Brian Vincent McGovernThe first track, "Supernatural," is basically a re-write of Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot," from its phrasing, right down to the electronic sounds used. Still, others have referred to this as Circle of Dust for Christians (because of the overt "Christian content"), and I've even heard some similarities to White Zombie and Nine Inch Nails. It's not marketed as industrial, but rather electronic…The Phantom Tollbooth 1998Reviewed by Joe RockstrohMental Floss is the debut album by Travis Wyrick, who singlehandedly wrote, played, recorded, and mixed the whole album. An impressive venture, but trying too hard to imitate several secular bands he unfortunately falls on his face. It's just way too blatant. Rugged Records boasted Wyrick's superiority to Filter and Prodigy, but this CD falls short of the standard of both, reaching only the level…
