Mudvayne -- Self-titled [review]

Mudvayne - Self-titled
Epic Records (12/21/09)
Metal


With Mudvayne’s latest opus, the self-titled fifth studio excursion for the band, people seem a little too wrapped up in the presentation (the packaging was printed in black light-reactant and the band is not doing promotion behind the effort) and are overlooking the most important part: the music.

Mudvayne is a return to form (of sorts) for the group, which had experimented with a more rock-tinged approach on 2008’s The New Game. While not as complex as its debut full-length — L.D. 50 — and not as epic as the band’s best offering to date — Lost and Found — the album still has a lot going for it. Besides the bass-heavy, technical dissection of in-your-face beats (tock-tock-tock) that have become a Mudvayne staple, the band seems to have ratcheted up the extremes at each end of the musical spectrum. Take the heavy-as-hell opener “Beautiful and Strange,” chock-full of heavy handed blast beats, which is just as crippling as a band classic like “Dig,” only with a decade of fury packed behind the delivery (the same could be said for “I Can’t Wait,” though the song doesn’t sound quite as tight). On the other end of the spectrum is a song like the moody “Dead Inside,” slower paced and more “quiet” in the approach. “Dead Inside” also, interestingly, closes the album, acting as a juxtaposing book end of sorts. In between the brash, brazen and melodic, are typical Mudvayne songs, with plenty of screaming and songs featuring a mixture of the band’s two styles.

It’s almost unclear exactly how this album came to be. The band at some point had a plan in place for an immediate follow-up to The New Game (the rumored The End Game, and front man Chad gray isn’t shy about his allegiance to his other band, Hell Yeah, content to focus on that project at the moment. So to that end, one could almost accuse the band of throwing a bunch of songs at the wall to see what stuck. Except, that’s not what this sounds like. It sounds like a group of seasoned veterans of the scene getting together to craft a no-frills attack (albeit it a little over-produced), only to sit back and watch fan-reaction. Mudvayne seemed to be able to dig into a well of influences to give the album an old-school metal flavor (an about face from the band’s prior release) while remaining firmly planted in its own roots (see the prototypical “Scream With Me” or “Heard It All Before”).

Legions of fans should eat this album up, as it’s one of the groups strongest, but it also has the potential to win over some new ones along the way. Perhaps not album of the year callibre, it’s a welcome surprise close out a decade.