Prong - Carved Into Stone
Some bands make a tremendous impact on music without being fully recognised for their actions - Prong are probably the best example when it comes to such instances, as the band are still shockingly unheard of by a great many music fans despite not only being around since 1986, but pretty much defining ninties groove/industrial metal. Starting their journey in more hardcore and crossover thrash territories with albums such as 1987's "Force Fed", the band eventually evolved into a colossal powerhouse by the early ninties - unleashing the thrashy, yet eerie and off-the-wall "Prove You Wrong" in 1992 and crushingly brilliant "Cleansing" in 1994... the latter of which is still considered by many to be their best work to date, with the lead single 'Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck' still getting frequent rotation at clubs today. Calling it quits after 1996's rather brilliant "Rude Awakening" - which delved further into the more industrialised, almost poppy aspects of their sound - frontman Tommy Victor decided to reform Prong in 2002, resulting in the slightly disappointing "Scorpio Rising" in 2003. The heaviness was there, but the songwriting wasn't quite up to Prong's usually high standards (despite boasting some excellent songs - 'Embrace the Depth' immediately comes to mind) and it seems the band knew this. Their answer was 2007's fantastic "Power of the Damager", which even got a complete makeover in 2009 under the moniker of "Power of the Damn Mixxxer" - the entire album remixed in a more techno/electronica style. It shouldn't have worked, but it did. And finally, after five years of waiting, Prong have released "Carved Into Stone".
When asked how to decribe Prong's sound, usually one's reply would be "That depends on which album/s you get". Most of their records have, while exhibiting others, one 'core' sound to them ("Force Fed" was crossover, Beg to Differ" was thrash, "Cleansing" groove etc.) so really, it entirely depended on the individual's taste. Here however, the band have compeltely obliterated any genre limitations by essentially writing a 'best of' album - every single aspect of Prong's history is represented here without fail, and without sounding like a sloppily constructed mess. Opener 'Eternal Heat' turns up... well, the heat... by instantly assaulting you with the same vicious, speedy thrash delivery that many of us will remember from "Beg to Differ", and in contrast, the album's lead single 'Revenge... Best Served Cold' is an extraordinarily catchy, hooky number akin to the likes of 'Rude Awakening'. That's just an example of Tommy Victor's writing style, one that's both devastatingly heavy yet beautifully melodic at the same time, and NOT in a ridiculous metalcore way. Saying that, some listeners may well notice a few metalcore vibes here and there, but you know what? Prong did that shit first, and they did it best. And to make things even better, Tommy wasn't a whiney little bitch about it. Look at the single's title again - 'Revenge... Best Served Cold'. Okay, it's slighty silly, but Tommy sounds so incredibley pissed off on this album that it's difficult to not grin from ear to ear like a lunatic. The man has a way with his lyrics here too, with the single boasting the line "Find an old photograph, what's that over there? Are those really footsteps walking up your stairs?" which again, looks daft when it's written out. But in the context of the songs themselves, they gain a deeper and slightly more sinister meaning to them.
On the subject of Tommy, his voice was always one of the deciders when it came to people's opinion on the band - like say, Sean Killian from Vio-lence, you either loved his voice or you absolutely hated it. And as much as I hate to say it, that can REALLY put people off a band whether they have great instrumental work or not. While it's true that in the past his voice has sounded slightly thin at times (oddly enough, I feel that "Cleansing" was guilty of this to a degree) he's obviously been doing some serious work in these past few years, as he's now sounding far more confident and much louder than before. Did the production have a part to play here? Possibly. Does it matter? Nope. I think it's fair to say that even if you still don't think much of Tommy's voice, the songs are still strong enough to win you over with relative ease. The amalgam of previous creative directions could have, as I mentioned earlier, led to utter disaster as some elements seem completely incompatible with others, but there's not a single awkward moment to be had throughout the 42 minute duration of the record. Only ever liked "Beg to Differ" and "Prove You Wrong"? Not a problem, 'Eternal Heat', 'Ammunition' and 'List of Grievances' will be right up your street. Only liked "Cleansing" and "Rude Awakening"? Good for you, here's "Revenge...", 'Put Myself to Sleep' and 'Subtract'. And the whole time, these songs contain influence from Prong's other 'styles'. There really is everything for everyone - even Black Sabbath fans, believe it or not. The fantastic title track utterly reeks of early doomy Sabbath, knock yourselves out with it - it's not something Prong have done extensively in the past, so it's refreshing to hear the band trying something slightly different if unoriginal. Naturally, it's not all about Tommy - the new Prong lineup includes Tony Campos (ex-Static X) on bass and Alexei Rodriguez (ex-3 Inches of Blood) on drums. Being of a relatively simple structure, Prong tracks don't exactly leave much room for flashy technicality and the like so giving these guys credit for their work can be very easily overlooked. This said, they're certainly the tightest rhythm unit that Prong has ever had and they most certainly deserve to be noticed for their fantastic work here, despite having what some may call 'questionable musical backgrounds.'
I should really admit that I've been a Prong fan for more than half my life - I can entirely blame them for my sense of groove in songwriting - yet found myself falling out of touch with their music on and off amidst other bands that were clawing for my attention at the time. After rediscovering them again about a year ago, I was absolutely ecstatic to hear that they had a new album due out and it's been one of the VERY few albums in recent years that has not only met my expectations, but completely surpassed them in almost every single way. Prong are possibly the only 'golden oldies' left that put their songwriting before their metal credibility - I think far too many bands nowadays worry too much about fitting into x or y catagory with their music, forgetting that songwriting is the most important thing of all. Good to know that some things will never change!
My mind has been utterly blown. Prong's "Carved Into Stone" is by far the best album of 2012, and could prove nearly impossible to top. You NEED this album!
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When asked how to decribe Prong's sound, usually one's reply would be "That depends on which album/s you get". Most of their records have, while exhibiting others, one 'core' sound to them ("Force Fed" was crossover, Beg to Differ" was thrash, "Cleansing" groove etc.) so really, it entirely depended on the individual's taste. Here however, the band have compeltely obliterated any genre limitations by essentially writing a 'best of' album - every single aspect of Prong's history is represented here without fail, and without sounding like a sloppily constructed mess. Opener 'Eternal Heat' turns up... well, the heat... by instantly assaulting you with the same vicious, speedy thrash delivery that many of us will remember from "Beg to Differ", and in contrast, the album's lead single 'Revenge... Best Served Cold' is an extraordinarily catchy, hooky number akin to the likes of 'Rude Awakening'. That's just an example of Tommy Victor's writing style, one that's both devastatingly heavy yet beautifully melodic at the same time, and NOT in a ridiculous metalcore way. Saying that, some listeners may well notice a few metalcore vibes here and there, but you know what? Prong did that shit first, and they did it best. And to make things even better, Tommy wasn't a whiney little bitch about it. Look at the single's title again - 'Revenge... Best Served Cold'. Okay, it's slighty silly, but Tommy sounds so incredibley pissed off on this album that it's difficult to not grin from ear to ear like a lunatic. The man has a way with his lyrics here too, with the single boasting the line "Find an old photograph, what's that over there? Are those really footsteps walking up your stairs?" which again, looks daft when it's written out. But in the context of the songs themselves, they gain a deeper and slightly more sinister meaning to them.
On the subject of Tommy, his voice was always one of the deciders when it came to people's opinion on the band - like say, Sean Killian from Vio-lence, you either loved his voice or you absolutely hated it. And as much as I hate to say it, that can REALLY put people off a band whether they have great instrumental work or not. While it's true that in the past his voice has sounded slightly thin at times (oddly enough, I feel that "Cleansing" was guilty of this to a degree) he's obviously been doing some serious work in these past few years, as he's now sounding far more confident and much louder than before. Did the production have a part to play here? Possibly. Does it matter? Nope. I think it's fair to say that even if you still don't think much of Tommy's voice, the songs are still strong enough to win you over with relative ease. The amalgam of previous creative directions could have, as I mentioned earlier, led to utter disaster as some elements seem completely incompatible with others, but there's not a single awkward moment to be had throughout the 42 minute duration of the record. Only ever liked "Beg to Differ" and "Prove You Wrong"? Not a problem, 'Eternal Heat', 'Ammunition' and 'List of Grievances' will be right up your street. Only liked "Cleansing" and "Rude Awakening"? Good for you, here's "Revenge...", 'Put Myself to Sleep' and 'Subtract'. And the whole time, these songs contain influence from Prong's other 'styles'. There really is everything for everyone - even Black Sabbath fans, believe it or not. The fantastic title track utterly reeks of early doomy Sabbath, knock yourselves out with it - it's not something Prong have done extensively in the past, so it's refreshing to hear the band trying something slightly different if unoriginal. Naturally, it's not all about Tommy - the new Prong lineup includes Tony Campos (ex-Static X) on bass and Alexei Rodriguez (ex-3 Inches of Blood) on drums. Being of a relatively simple structure, Prong tracks don't exactly leave much room for flashy technicality and the like so giving these guys credit for their work can be very easily overlooked. This said, they're certainly the tightest rhythm unit that Prong has ever had and they most certainly deserve to be noticed for their fantastic work here, despite having what some may call 'questionable musical backgrounds.'
I should really admit that I've been a Prong fan for more than half my life - I can entirely blame them for my sense of groove in songwriting - yet found myself falling out of touch with their music on and off amidst other bands that were clawing for my attention at the time. After rediscovering them again about a year ago, I was absolutely ecstatic to hear that they had a new album due out and it's been one of the VERY few albums in recent years that has not only met my expectations, but completely surpassed them in almost every single way. Prong are possibly the only 'golden oldies' left that put their songwriting before their metal credibility - I think far too many bands nowadays worry too much about fitting into x or y catagory with their music, forgetting that songwriting is the most important thing of all. Good to know that some things will never change!
My mind has been utterly blown. Prong's "Carved Into Stone" is by far the best album of 2012, and could prove nearly impossible to top. You NEED this album!
[embed]
1. Eternal Heat
2. Keep On Living In Pain
3. Ammunition
4. Revenge... Best Served Cold
5. State Of Rebellion
6. Put Myself To Sleep
7. List Of Grievances
8. Carved Into Stone
9. Subtract
10. Path Of Least Resistance
11. Reinvestigate
2. Keep On Living In Pain
3. Ammunition
4. Revenge... Best Served Cold
5. State Of Rebellion
6. Put Myself To Sleep
7. List Of Grievances
8. Carved Into Stone
9. Subtract
10. Path Of Least Resistance
11. Reinvestigate
Label: http://spv.de
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Apr 26, 2012
Apr 26, 2012
Next review:
Panchrysia - Massa Damnata
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