Bury the SingerAhab Rex - Blood on Blonde1 star (out of 5 stars) Reviewed: Nov. 16, 2006 |
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Review by Brad Walseth Continuing the trend of glorifying violence against women with the title of his new recording, songwriter/bassist/vocalist (using the terms most loosely) Ahab Rex could perhaps be redeemed if indeed there was anything in the slightest bit interesting in his "art" (again used loosely). Unfortunately, the combination of horrible singing and bad songwriting leads only to a shallow grave devoid of any worthy ideas or craft.With a voice compared to Tom Waits (apparently as in: "he makes Tom Waits sound like Pavorotti") the fact that he has chosen to "sing" his own compositions is an insult to any listener not sporting a hearing aid, and the fact that good money was spent on recording this tripe rather than supporting a homeless shelter only serves to explain why the Third World hates us so much. High school level songwriting ability (at best - could have been derived from the notebooks of Columbine - minus the charm) combined with utterly laughable bass playing by the lead character doom this release to the great cut-out bin of tasteless garbage. Listening to this on a day when the news features a construction worker arrested for strangling an actress in New York City, the poor taste of Ahab's bent does not sit well at all. Meanwhile, opening track "Ordinary Things" features Chris Connelly and Martin Atkins of Pigface and is almost ok for that sort of thing (mindless hardcore). "The Queen of Softcore" (again with Atkins) follows and is the "hit" single of the album - almost, but again failing to register a tune worth listening to. After that the entire recording is a wasteland of poorly presented ugliness, until the final track - the Assassins remix of "Ordinary Things" - where a danceable beat is finally achieved and a sort of saving grace is reached by almost completely burying the "vocals" six feet under where they truly belong and can no longer do any harm. |