Filter - The Trouble With Angels Review

Posted by Marshall Slayton on 08.23.2010

Richard Patrick is back for more industrial action! Does he still have it, or has the forty-two year old frontman gone over the hill?



1. The Inevitable Relapse
2. Drug Boy
3. Absentee Father
4. No Love
5. No Re-entry
6. Down With Me
7. Catch a Falling Knife
8. The Trouble With Angels
9. Clouds
10. Fades Like a Photograph (Dead Angel)

Those who were disappointed with the 2008 Filter comeback, Anthems for the Damned, will find a lot to like with Richard Patrick’s latest heavy opus, The Trouble With Angels. While Anthems wasn’t a bad record, I understand some of the criticism surrounding that 2008 release.

The album didn’t quite share the same heavy edge as its predecessors and went for more of a serious, political tone. The style was buried somewhere between Army of Anyone and the songwriting of Filter’s The Amalgamut. The timing was off, too. Why make an angry political album about George W. Bush at the END of Bush’s presidency? By 2008, the heavy anti-war music well had already bled dry – to find a rock album without an angry Bush song would have been considered a revelation, so adding another to the pile simply made it less relevant.

Richard Patrick took all his criticisms to heart and churned out The Trouble With Angels a little more than two years later. This is Filter’s real comeback, and a complete triumph for Richard Patrick. It’s his best album in a decade. Picture, if you will, the heaviness of Short Bus coated with the refined choruses of Title of Record, and you’ll get a great idea of what’s offered up here.

I confess to not being a huge fan of the first track and lead-off single “The Inevitable Relapse.” I don’t hate it, but when compared to previous singles like “Welcome to the Fold” and “Hey Man, Nice Shot,” the chorus ”Drink it-Drink it-Snort it-Smoke it!” is a let-down. With Anthems of the Damned, I was in love with “Soldiers of Misfortune,” but didn’t care for much else on the album. The Trouble With Angels is the opposite; while the single may not live up to the hype, the rest is excellence.

“Drug Boy” is a heavy-hitter which sparks Patrick’s hatred for addiction. Lyrics like “Come along, Sally, twelve hours of acid – Come along, Sally, let’s dig up a casket!” aren’t exactly subtle, but then again, Filter has never been one for subtlety. The song itself is loud and harsh, and hits with a sudden, pounding force.



The album slows down around “No Love,” which opens with a breakdown similar to “The Take” from Anthems of the Damned. It’s fresh and ready to be plucked for radio, but unlike many bands on the airwaves, it’s a fist-pumper that’s nowhere near generic. On the other hand, “No Re-entry,” is a ballad that lasts nearly six minutes but miraculously keeps the pace of the album coasting right along. Patrick grabs us with a catchy chorus and atmospheric guitar heaviness which never rises above a crawl.

Personal favorite “Down With Me,” won me over with its infectious chorus: “Dooooowwwwwn! Going down, holding you! I’ll take you down! I’ll take you down!” The song feels like it was left off Short Bus with an industrial feel provided by generous amounts of keyboard and scratchy guitar chords. It left me feeling giddy and nostalgic for old Nine Inch Nails.

And if you’ve heard “Fades Like a Photograph,” from the disaster-porn flick “2012,” don’t abandon hope—the song’s been upgraded to close out the album and sounds even better than before. Sure, Filter’s hoping to cash in on “Take a Picture” fame, but you can’t blame them since they hit a high point in the late 90’s and faded into obscurity. The follow-up is more than adequate and serves as a mellow coda with overlapping keyboards and lovely acoustic guitar work.

With The Trouble With Angels, Filter isn’t trying to evolve or re-invent the wheel, they are merely trying to appeal to old school fans who wondered if the band had gone soft. Good news: the songwriting is not only just as good, if not better, than before – that heavy industrial edge is back, and Richard Patrick doesn’t sound like he’s aged a day since Short Bus. Listening to the album is like being reunited with an old friend you haven’t seen in a while, and getting re-acquainted only makes you realize why you enjoyed their company so much to begin with. This is not only an improvement over Anthems of the Damned, it’s a really great Filter record, and a reward for the loyal fanbase.

The 411: The Trouble With Angels is a real treat. At ten tracks, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and it has enough variation and tricks to keep you coming back for repeated listens. Filter’s never been the most original band, but Richard Patrick’s voice is still stellar and he can write great hooks after nearly two decades. It’s great to see Filter back where they belong -- on the heavier side of the rock n' roll spectrum and kicking our asses all the way back to the mid-90’s.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]