Wake up!

Few would mourn the passing of that peculiar animal called nu-metal. Indeed, many would consider the emergence of bands from that now-disreputable genre – Limp Bizkit, Korn and their facsimiles – as a nadir in modern rock music. Possibly the worse since the hair bands that dominated the Sunset Strip in the late 80’s, leaving behind a wake of abused starlets and empty cans of Spray-Net. Essentially, the two beasts were the same. Of course, one wore lipstick and leather; the other, sports jerseys and faux-Rasta dreads. The excesses both in lifestyle and the music were however almost identical and the results were predictably boring: cardboard cutouts playing the same routine over and over again. (One pundit claims that there are only about less than 30 riffs in rock and metal. It seems in nu-metal they only got around to five.) Funny, that never bothered AC/DC – of course, the band had personality.

Filipino nu-metal bands showed tougher mettle than their Western counterparts, showing much more innovation and feel for the music. Put it down to the fact that many of our artists really know how it is to be kicked around and spat at. Unlike Fred Durst, these bands were no sissies. (Talk about being a wuss, Durst and his entourage couldn’t even play one concert here. Cheese, Chicosci and Greyhoundz do it everyday. Hell, even Mariah Carey had – figuratively speaking – more balls.

Although the most popular, the guys from Slapshock weren’t, to be honest, the best musicians or songwriters in the arena. Also, they came quite later in the game than their peers. However, they exuded a charisma (and quite a few great licks) that managed to make them avatars of the movement, capturing the zeitgeist and funneling its power into their music. Their debut "4th Degree Burn" was a fiery patchwork of emotion, not unlike observing the sculptured keloids around a body, discovering some wounds still open and fingering it to remember the pain. Kids lapped it up, and their parents left genuinely worried. Their follow-up "Headtrip" was a more debauched affair but no less affecting. Despite its glitz, it was much darker than most critics gave it credit for. Success it seemed had not tamed them.

The cover of their next album "Project 11-41" was ominous. The first two albums featured outstanding artwork by painter Rom Villeseran that was as passionate as the music itself. On the third album, though, despite the face of a beautiful woman, the cover was one of the most ugly in recent memory, devoid of any originality and amateurish in execution. The music contained therein was likewise uninspired.

Decamping to Cebu for their fourth album, the guys from Slapshock recorded their latest offering "Novena." It seems that the change of milieu has done the band good. Recording in the already legendary Backyard Project Studios (responsible for producing artists like Smooth Friction and Urban Dub), the band finally made the album that one always suspected it was capable of doing. The band has never sounded or played better, the first time recorded material measures up to the stage performances.

(It amazes one to ponder how such a big sound came from such a small studio… Cheers to the producer!)

If metal is indeed on its death throes, this is its perfect send-off: snarling to the last and refusing to die. At least not without one hell of a fight.

(Still could use a better album cover, though.)

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Again, it’s Friday! Better tune into the Gweilo’s Hour on the greatest rock station in the islands NU 107.5. We’re on from 9 to 10 p.m. Tonight, our guest is painter Gino Tioseco who has an ongoing exhibit at the Ricco Renzo Gallery in Reposo St., Makati. In tribute to our gay brothers and sisters, also on the show is fashion designer Puey Quinones. We’ll playing some Husker Du, Suede, Morrissey, Marc Bolan and of course David Bowie.

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Send comments and reactions to: erwin_romulo@hotmail.com