Published on May 17, 2005
Wither Blister Burn + Peel is one of those cases where a
seemingly promising album does a lot less than what is expected of
it. It was released during the time when industrial music was
gaining substantial popularity, after the big grunge boom.
When the world was thirsting for more industrial, Stabbing
Westward came up with the single “What Do I Have To Do?” followed
up by the perfect industrial song “Shame” and the album
Wither Blister Burn + Peel. It’s a perfectly industrial-ish
album-title, with two hard-hitting singles; nothing could be wrong
about the album, could it?
Well, actually a lot is wrong about
Wither Blister Burn + Peel. It does satisfy all the sine qua
nons of an industrial album: richly layered and unrecognizable
music, plenty of distortion happening in the midst of the effusive
synthesized sounds, and yes, the essentially obloquious lyrics,
which refuse to understand and acknowledge the beauty of the world
around us.
Still,
Wither Blister Burn + Peel is far from an album to be in awe
of. It appears as if Stabbing Westward has picked out ingredients
from an industrial album, and has tried to mix those ingredients,
trying to ape their more successful industrial compatriots like
Nine Inch Nails.
Sadly, music doesn’t work the same way as cooking food does. One
cannot just pick out the essential commodities and simply try to
cook them up to create a good work of musical art. Music is
supposed to come from the heart, and should flow naturally.
The two singles, “What Do I have To Do?” and “Shame,” are
original, but don’t lead to a promising record. There are of course
a few genuinely good songs amongst the weed of fakes. “Why” and
“Sleep,” both with similar (down) tempos, do, like the singles,
seem genuinely conceived and mature. Alas, these songs are quickly
dwarfed by a bunch of puerile ones, which are indicative that
Stabbing Westward seriously needs to come of age.
The lack of maturity of this band from Chicago is most prominent
in its lyrics. Industrial music is best sung with lyrics of fury
and spite. This doesn’t mean that one should make the least effort
in being creative enough to write meaningful hate-ridden words, and
end up writing gibberish, trying to sound angry, and hoping that
the superimposed music will take care of the shortcomings of the
sloppy writing. The group has simply sorted out words that have a
demonic appeal, and has strewn them throughout the album,
hugger-mugger, without trying to make any genuine sense.
Stabbing Westward needs to grow up badly, and it needs to be
more creative. With the quality of the honestly promising numbers
on
Wither Blister Burn + Peel, the band should’ve been more
careful with the rest of the lot, which overshadow the ones which
are indicative of a promising outfit passing through an ugly phase
of adolescence.