This album, the final by the brilliant \u201890s post-hardcore band Orange 9mm, is finally being released digitally after going out of print around the turn of the millennium. I snagged it on CD still sealed in 2020 and I was quite surprised by it. After recruiting a new bassist in 1996 and working on an EP entitled Ultraman Vs. Godzilla<\/i> in 1998, the band began working on new material not long afterward. The material was in the vein of the band\u2019s masterpiece, 1996\u2019s Tragic<\/i>, but they began to feel. the material was stale. Having been influenced by the likes of Radiohead and electronica, they decided to try anew. What they came up with has been hyped in the press in terms of the reissue to be amazing and inspiring, but what I got was a band spinning their wheels trying to do something new and not doing it very well.<\/p>\n
Opening track \u201cWhen You Lie\u201d feels like the band trying to combine electronic elements with their hardcore sound, and it doesn\u2019t work. It feels flat and empty. The amazing bass work that is always one of the band\u2019s biggest strengths is still on prime display, though. The band\u2019s bassist had quit and so guitarist Taylor McLam was recruited to provide bass again, and he does a great job. The songs that still have the band\u2019s trademarks, like \u201cLifeless,\u201d still sound great but different.<\/p>\n
When it all really comes together is on \u201cTouching Skies,\u201d probably the slowest song in the band\u2019s catalog, but it\u2019s so damn good and is an amazing display of the band\u2019s true powers. This is the album\u2019s true masterpiece.<\/p>\n
The album\u2019s title track is okay but it doesn\u2019t fully go for the throat like the band is really capable of. Then there\u2019s the almost six minute \u201cDragons (You Know I Love You)\u201d and the seven minute \u201cInnocence.\u201d Why these tracks are here I couldn\u2019t tell you. The former is basically spoken word and not even like a real song; it\u2019s disappointing to waste such time on something like this. \u201cInnocence\u201d begins with a mellow intro, but then it just dissolves into more mindless spoken word. It really brings the album down in a major way. Why would anyone tell them this was a good idea?<\/p>\n
The album\u2019s main single \u201cAlien\u201d was average at best, but didn\u2019t do enough to attract listeners. After that, the album just flounders and never rises above below mediocrity. The album flopped, the label was nonexistent within a year, and by the end of 2000, so was the band. What a disappointing way to close your career. Kids, don\u2019t follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":27800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7486],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-46191","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-orange-9mm","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46191"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}