Twin Method
The Volume of Self
4.6
Unless you really like nu-metal, stop reading this immediately. There’s no point in going forward from here…
For the rest of all, maybe, 20 of you, your major dry spell since the last Limp Bizkit studio album spectacularly crashed and burned is about to be relieved!! You can rejoice in the mediocrity of an almost entirely worthless genre just like you did when ‘Head’ was knee-deep in hookers and blow (I almost forgot Korn released an album last fall). Honestly, this CD and band astonish me almost as much as their being signed to Crash. Not only are Liverpool, England’s Twin Method quite a few years behind the wave of multicolored dreadlocked & downtuned success, they do nothing to advance an already boring-as-bald-tires genre whatsoever.
What Goes Right: Not much to report here. The only point of reference I can see as far as quality goes on The Volume Of Self would lie with the musicianship, which is only decent at best. Citing projects such as Massive Attack, Metallica, Green Day, Motley Crue, and Soundgarden among past influences, these guys do in fact show a great deal of technical ability here and there, although you’d never be able to identify their muses by listening to anything off this album. The riffs are tight with the drums and bass adding a solid backbone, the vocals are somewhat melodic and fit the music to a ‘T’, and most of the songs are reasonably catchy and memorable (“Reality Check” is actually rather good!!!). Did I pour enough sugar over that? I’m trying to make this quick.
What Goes Wrong: ...almost everything else. As already mentioned, the music is terribly, terribly dated and unoriginal. I’m glad they decided to leave rapping to rappers, at least. Each of these 12 songs are completely interchangeable, and the lack of any kind of highlight makes for an awfully monotonous listen. And yes, it is a catchy album, but it’s also about as appealing as catching pinkeye. Sure, it’ll stick with ya’, but do you really want to be stuck with 40 minutes worth of this crap in your head? Lyrically, I had to laugh. This whole “Watch me break inside/ I am an outcast to myself/ The mirror sickens me as I adjust to fit your way/ What about me?” type of (emo)tive swill being delivered with varyingly annoying clean/growled-screamed vocals has already been driven down so many miles of rough road as it is. Why let this poor, overproduced thing keep kicking and flailing everywhere?
The Verdict: The Volume Of Self is uneventful, average nu-metal, plain and simple. You see, if they had at least tried to throw a little individuality, personality, ANY sort of creativity into the mix which would update the sound a little more, the rating would have been better. If the rest of the material was as cool as “Reality Check”, Twin Method might have had a surprising success on their hands, and if you still enjoy nu-metal, then I’d honestly recommend that you check this out. But there’s probably already one Linkin Park, one Stone Sour, and one Papa Roach disc in your possession, so I guess the final decision to add this to your collection is yours alone. Don’t blame me if you decide to use this as a drink coaster.
