Personnel
- Chad Gray − vocals
- Greg Tribbett − guitars, backing vocals
- Ryan Martinie − bass
- Matthew McDonough − drums
- Dave Fortman − producer, mixing
Track Listing
- "Fish Out of Water" – 3:30
- "Do What You Do" – 3:36
- "A New Game" – 5:03
- "Have It Your Way" – 3:45
- "A Cinderella Story" – 4:40
- "The Hate in Me" – 3:22
- "Scarlet Letters" – 3:56
- "Dull Boy" – 4:14
- "Same Ol'" – 4:49
- "Never Enough" – 3:39
- "We the People" – 3:07
Welcome to monotony.
Almost a decade ago, Mudvayne burst onto the scene with their bipolar, major-label debut L.D. 50, captivating an MTV audience with their dark video for “Dig”. 2002's The End of All Things to Come was a melodic juggernaut that painted a bright future for metal in the mainstream, propelled by “World So Cold” and “Not Falling”. Lost and Found’s radio-friendly sound succeeded with the #1 single “Happy?” and a few other key tracks.
Then HellYeah happened.
Despite the implied tribute to Dimebag Darrell, this made many communities scream “Hell no!”, which was reflected in the poor album sales and listing the record as one of the worst in 2007. No one really seemed to care that Chad Gray and Vinnie Paul had penned such classics as "Alcohaulin' Ass," or "HellYeah." That’s sarcasm, by the way. Most recently, there was the By the People, For the People demo collection, which showcased new tunes: "Dull Boy", a b-side, and a cover of The Police’s "King of Pain." This was frontman Chad Gray’s attempt to say, “Hey, we’re still relevant!”
By November 18, 2008, Mudvayne had three Gold albums (sales of 500k+ in North America), and one quickly approaching platinum. Mudvayne's infamy spread like a communicable disease that many people didn’t seem to mind contracting, myself included. They became a legitimate, tour-de-force, headlining and participating in many key festivals and tours.
High expectations were ramped up, in fantasy land. Producer Dave Fortman would routinely issue this statement, “[The New Game is] heavy and has great hooks, but it also has some moments that are a little more rock n' roll that are really cool. It's not anything drastic, but every now and then you'll catch a little hint of old-school rock. Also, the tones are a little more earthy sounding and a little warmer than Lost and Found."
Earthy? Warmer? What does that even mean? I remarked, several time, “If I wanted that, I would just listen to Hellyeah. I want the angry, passionate, and melodic metal with the pounding riffs and awesome drum work that painted onto a canvas of dark lyrics” a la EOATTC or LD 50. Don’t get me wrong; I loved Lost and Found (hundreds of times over), but if I wanted to listen to another metal/hard-rock band sell out to the mainstream trend, I’d listen to Slipknot or Disturbed. Zing! Yes, I realize that bands need to evolve for personal reasons (unlike AC/DC), but I did not appreciate this advancement; it does not work for Mudvayne or for me.
In the long run, the reality of The New Game is that three years writing new material readied ten (plus “Dull Boy”) b-sides from Lost and Found and Hellyeah that the band picked up off the drawing room floor, pasted together, and re-recorded. Much to my chagrin and horror, there is almost nothing worth salvaging on this record. The New Game is walking to the gallows, mentally prepared for the suffering and agony of being hanged with Gray’s lyrics and Matthew McDonough’s drumming, and then being marched in front of a firing squad and killed quickly with muted bass lines of Ryan Martinie and spotty guitar work, brought to you by Greg Tribbett. I feel like the darkness inside of me had been baited and switched. And last I checked, that’s a felony.
Hardcore fans are going to listen to this album, and some will enjoy it; it has a signature Mudvayne feel to it, at least in terms of instrumentals. However, I found forty-something minutes of lethargic, derivative lyrics with some rare moments of resourcefulness and originality. At these moments, I thought to myself, “These should be happening in every song, in every verse.”
On all of the other discs, Gray would paint a beautiful-yet-depressing, chaotic, convoluted lyrical verse (ie. “Death Blooms”, “Skrying”, “All That You Are”). The New Game is mostly a devotion to dreadful lyricism. Don’t believe me? Look no further than "Same Ol'?”, “A Cinderella Story”, and “Do What You Do," the first single:
Just do what you do / What you do, what you did to me / Now I'm stuck in between a rock and nowhere /With nothing / With no one.
I can speculate, however, that “Same Ol’?” (especially with its hardcore structure that doesn’t work), the subpar title-track, and heavy album closer "We the People," are designed to incite mosh pits, much like “Determined”. In “People”, Gray ends on his own political note, verbosely hemorrhaging his Establishment:
We the people can have a plan, we the people can make a stand /…/every day, there's something new to try/ everyday, there's something new to buy / Everyday, there's a new American dream in the land of opportunity . . . send me your tired, your poor, your broken / Send me your life so I can own you
The closer speaks well to Gray’s growls and screams, and I felt slighted of these moments, as most songs are monotonous, melodic, unadventurous drivel.
"Have It Your Way," points out the political shortcomings of the Bush administration. (I’ve got to be honest, at this point, I’m tired of political songs about it.) And it’s blatantly obvious:
Was it for your father, did you get a little pat on the head? / 'That's the way to go, boy!' / Clean up this mess
And later…
Welcome to the new wave, New World Order Part II, but I'd be damned if they would ever die for you / The world is crashing down all around us, all around you / The world is falling down - have it your way - we have nothing to say.
In the chorus, I almost feel like Gray is about to get angry, but he pulls his punches a little too much and falls flat on his face. Carbon copy of “Happy?”, folks, but without any impact. Could this song get any more radio friendly?
"The Hate in Me" continues the same sentiments to "Have It Your Way":
"Lend me your children to borrow, I just need to send them away / Long as the tears of sorrow, I promise we'll keep them safe".
A good song to bang your head to, with the rougher vocals, at their best in the chorus and in the breakdown, but it's still not worth writing home about.
Let me focus on a good moment. Album opener "Fish Out of Water" demonstrate how classic Mudvayne writing yields a brawny, shadowy message in the melodic breakdown:
All these falling angels, skeletons of what they once were, hanging in the closet for the world to see / And now they're fallen angels faced by demons on their judgment / Hanging from the gallows for us all to see.
The opening riffs excited me greatly. Much better than the opening (“Determined") of Lost and Found. And rare screaming! I love this track, as it is a moment of maturity for the quartet. Too bad that’s all lost in the derelict “Scarlett Letter” and the repeated track “Dull Boy.”
The first time through the album, I felt as though I was listening to “World So Cold” melodic rejects and “Forget To Remember” outtakes over and over. There was a healthy balance of Mudvayne grind, coupled with that “old school rock”, too many of which sound like a page right off of Hellyeah. That spoiled the experience greatly, for me.
On a final album note, I was impressed with some of the instrumentals and how well they maintain that signature Mudvayne sound, as I mentioned before. Nevertheless, I was not awed by the lack of multiplicity from McDonough’s drumkit. If you’ve ever seen pictures of it, you know just how sic it is. Little good that did on this album as he spends much of the album overshadowed by his band mates. Tribbett has moments of strong guitar work, but that’s few and far between; the solos are short and there are no epic opening moments, expect for the first track.
Those of you despaired by my review or the album itself, there is a bright spot.
You might care that there is a “game” based around them album. If you purchase this derelict disc, you get a free access card to play a murder mystery on the band’s official website. There are some cool prizes: lifetime membership to the fan club or a guitar.
There is also another album due out in the latter half of 2009. So after this album fails, there’s “new” work waiting in the wings. Maybe, this time, it won’t be 11 tracks of b-sides.
