Published on Feb 10, 1999
Boy, sometimes it doesn’t pay to leave a CD sitting in the “to
be reviewed” pile for too long. Once in a while, a “Spinal
Tap”-like occurrence will happen, leaving the band that exists in
real life different than what you’ve got to work with on the
album.
Case in point: Canada’s Fueled By Ignorance, whose eight-song
debut
Tears came out last year. (For the record, I’ve had it about
two months, so it’s not like I got it day-of-release and sat on it
all this time.) Since this disc was cut, the band has lost bassist
T. James (who died in a car crash almost a year ago), drummer Shawn
Gairdner (or is he back? I can’t tell the way the news is
piecemealed together on the band’s home page) and guitarist Adrian
Castley. They’ve also left the label that
Tears was released on, as well as their management company –
I’ve heard of creative rebirth, but
this is ridiculous.
It’s a bit more ridiculous when you realize that Fueled By
Ignorance, while still a young band with a lot of musical growth to
still achieve, seemed to be onto something. While they didn’t have
quite the organization as other bands of their style (Tool, Korn),
they do have the energy and the determination that comes through in
the music, and that counts for a lot on this first effort.
My biggest complaint with this disc is a common one: It’s too
short! The eight songs clock in at under a half-hour, leaving me
curious about what this band is truly capable of. (Then again,
Tool’s first effort
Opiate was the same way, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too
much.)
As for the music, it’s pretty good songwriting, and the
performances are better than one would expect from a debut. The
bass lines of James (Todd James Wickstrom) make you realize that
his death was a big loss to this band. Gairdner’s trap work is
crisp, while Castley’s guitar lines alternate between chopping
leads and crunching rhythm riffs. Vocalist Simon Springer is not
the strongest singer in this genre, but he more than makes up for
any shortcomings with the intensity of his performances on
Tears.
Tracks like “Gallstone,” “Klutz” and “Crumbling” all slap the
listener into submission, demonstrating that Fueled By Ignorance is
more than capable of holding their own in a musical field that is
starting to get crowded. What is special about the band is that
they are able to carve their own niche without sounding like a
carbon copy of their peers. I may make the Tool comparison, but
thankfully, you won’t hear a second rate Aenima performance.
Drawbacks? There are one or two – namely, it takes some time to
really get into Fueled By Ignorance. “Unleash” is an okay track,
but it doesn’t immediately grab your attention until well over
halfway through the song. Unfortunately, when you’re an
up-and-coming band fighting to get the attention of a new audience,
you need to come out of the gate swinging, and Fueled By Ignorance
doesn’t quite do that… yet.
In a ssense, Fueled By Ignorance has a harder battle ahead of
them because of all the upheaval in the band. Had the same lineup
still been together today, they would have had a solid anchor in
Tears to help them build the band into something stronger.
However, with only one member from this recording session left, the
band is almost back at square one. Nevertheless,
Tears is a good, though flawed, effort that does make me
interested in seeing where this band is going to go in the near
future.