The majority of this album consists of reconstituted hip-hop beats, wanna-be Sabbath stock riffs, lots of Zach de la Rocha preachiness/screams, many scratchy solos from Tom Morello, and the occasional cool noise or riff which blows by in two seconds. I am sure Tom Morello is a nice guy, and by the sounds of things here he definitely knows some tricks here and there, but stop trying to make your guitar sound like a turntable when it comes time to solo.

A surprisingly sober yet highly entertaining and down-to-earth portrait of The Stooges, who somehow lived to see their reputation rise from the depths of being the world's most reviled band, to one of its' most beloved. Only in America!

Pretty much a business-as-usual record from Slayer, as it does not stray much from their 80's thrash template. "213" was named after Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment number; here's a sample line - “how I love to KILL YOU!!!”

"War Ensemble" and the title track are incredible; everything else feels like they went on cruise control. The former song is a jokey take on the classic "Angel of Death" while the latter is IMHO the best track they ever cut. I'm not saying the rest of this is bad but if there ever was an album that you needed to hear for two cuts alone it is this one.

Prong was one of those late 80's/early 90's metal bands that straddled the line between a lot of different hard rock and avant-garde type genres - which was a big part of their attraction. By the time the grunge era came and went, they were crammed into the "groove metal" camp with Pantera and White Zombie. I've heard bits and pieces of their earlier works, but this CD and the next one were really their most impactful on a commercial scale. The consensus was, trim 4-5 songs off of this and you have yourself a classic. I'm not so sure I would go that far but this is definitely a front-loaded affair.