Published on Jul 22, 1999
What hath Rage Against The Machine wrought? Ever since they
burst forth onto the scene, it seems like there has been a plethora
of bands hitting the scene who are merging spoken-word / rap with
the power of alternative and metal.
Then there’s the case of Orange 9mm, a band that ditches the
political leanings of their musical godparents and goes out in
their own mixture of spoken-word deliveries and well-crafted
alterna-metal. Their latest effort,
Pretend I’m Human, shows signs of greatness, but its
weakness lies not in its overuse of the style, but rather its
underuse.
The trio – vocalist Chaka Malik, guitarist/bassist Taylor McLam
and drummer Matthew Cross – have just enough of an edge to their
playing to grasp the fringes of metal, but they never push the
distortion button over the edge to take away from the lyrics. (It
should be noted that the band is augmented by keyboards and
programming from Neil Perry.) It’s not often that a fair balance
between the two sides is reached, and Orange 9mm know exactly how
to reach it.
For the first half of
Pretend I’m Human, it seems like Orange 9mm can do little
wrong. While it takes more than one listen to truly appreciate
songs like “When You Lie,” “Facelift” and the title track, the
effort quickly proves to be worth it, as everything seems to click
for the band.
The problem with
Pretend I’m Human comes when the band tries to move away
from structured music and into the realm of ambient spoken-word.
Tracks like “Dragons (You Know I Love You)” and “Innocence” are
flat-out head scratchers. It is almost like you’re listening to
works in progress – as if the band has the lyrics and delivery
down, but they haven’t had the chance to write music around the
words. Simply put, it doesn’t work.
After such a spirit killer, tracks like “Alien” are hard-pressed
to bring
Pretend I’m Human back up to a level of power it once had,
and frankly, the obstacle is just a little more than they can
overcome. Closing out the album with the short instrumental piece
“Day One” might not be the best way to end the experience, but I
can almost understand why they did so.
For all of the promise and excitement that Orange 9mm built up
with the first half of
Pretend I’m Human, I can only wonder why they chose to drop
the structured melodies for a good chunk of the second half. After
all, you don’t send the mosh pit into a frenzy by whipping out the
acoustic guitar mid-set.
Orange 9mm has potential, but
Pretend I’m Human makes the mistake of leaving some concepts
underdeveloped. Maybe next time, guys.