Skinny Puppy "Rabies" (1989)

 

Where this journey ends, others shall begin. Having occupied a fair portion of my auditory real estate, I've come conclude there is little left for these Canadian Industrial pioneers to offer. Despite legendary status among the Industrial Metal I adore, the unearthing of the disjointed musical ideas that informed them has become a dull drone. On this fifth outing, Skinny Puppy recycle their dissident formula for dystopian soundscapes again. Lined with malfeasant movie snippet samples, inhuman percussion and jolting baselines, Rabies oddly offers the most accessible incarnation yet. Even so, its mediocrity has songs failing to favor themselves with memorability beyond brief surges of unsettling noise and claustrophobic vocal distortions.

A few songs are distinguished with a new dimension for the group. A metallic drive, as Al Jourgensen of Ministry lends his guitar craft to his musical idols. Thrusts of enthused yet blunt distortion riffs grind in repetition to lend a familiar aesthetic. Sadly the meld is a dull one, perhaps peaking with Facist Jock Itch, although its rampant snare drum abuse is a grating one. Other than this chemistry of note, the records aesthetic and atmosphere echos so much I've adored of their influence yet again fails to connect. Warlock manages a special moment, its alien vocals emoting deep pains with fascinating guile. As its concludes, the rising synths birth something unique. It reminds me fondly of Dysmorphik. There are more records in the catalog but currently the exploration seems futile and thus another journey concludes itself.

Rating: 4/10

Skinny Puppy "Vivisectvi" (1988)

 

Stylized as VIVIsectVI, this fourth machination of darkly Industrial and sporadic electro tones is one I vaguely remember from over twenty years ago. Revisiting it has not rekindled any youthful memories or sparked any further intrigue in Skinny Puppy. Once again the approach of Ogre and Key alludes me. Their dystopian soundscapes running detached from a convention I'd connect with, like groove or atmosphere.

Harsh drum machine percussion pounds its persistent drone, a shuffling assault of stabs and jerking motions as jolty synth basslines busy themselves with energetic resolve. A persistent theme arises once again, the emerging instrumental pallet heard better used by others later on. Vivisectvi has its moments of chemistry, often brief and wedged between Ogre's bare screams, grisly spoken shouts and plenty of sampled snippets that attend to emphasizing a darker side of society and human behavior.

For me, this one barely amounts to more than the sum of its parts, however for the year I can see how fresh and different this experience might of been. Vivisectvi bridges its fidelity into a more digestible format, the music sounding visible. Crisper instruments and synthetic instruments play boldly. Where it looses me is after Testure, another notably Synthpop adjacent song with melodic convention and gleaming bells juxtaposing the dystopian madness with a touch of hopefully, if not naive, light.

With a touch of Dejavu, the record descends into a sprawl of chaotic ideas after this song. State Aid and beyond leans hard into distortion and battering percussion, never quite recovering the atmosphere once flirted with. I've heard these ideas re-imagined by others further down the line and packaged so much better. I can give it merit for exploring these grounds but the end result isn't satisfying, simply of curious nature.

Rating: 4/10

Skinny Puppy "Cleanse Fold And Manipulate" (1987)

 

 

Fine tuning the dials of its industrious abandon for a noteably consistent peruse through nightmarish dystopias, Skinny Puppy loses any spark on this third and fiendishly monotonous outing. Its opening however, suggests new ground as janky and flustered bursts of softening symth seem organized. They spew murky unease alongside subtle sensibilities that suggest a slight Synthpop influence. One can hear a keen sampling of Kraftwork on First Aid. The following Addicition strides to a cohesive expression, where its disjointed elements cast a worried spell of personal struggle and abuse, between injections of obnoxious samples that brake up Orge's snarly shouts.

And then a sudden descent into mediocrity, every following song until conclusion seeming to allude any potent melody or enticing chemistry beyond its disheveled industrial exterior. Broken baselines thrust notes forth between the shuffling of metallic percussion, banging and clattering along without a settled rhythm. In flood samples and crude hissing shouts that too fail in amounting to anything of merit. Despite this extended lull, one hears an occasion echo of some aesthetic chemistry, to be repeated by Industrial Metal juggernauts to come. Other than that, it lacks on all fronts.

Rating: 2/10

Skinny Puppy "Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse" (1986)

Unlike the exploratory oddity predecessor Bites, Skinny Puppy's sophomore reeks of conceptualization. In presentation, aesthetic and an unwavering tone, Mind assaults the listener. With janky, discombobulated elctro-percussion, uneasy distorted samplings and the strained snarky chords of Nivek Ogre, one is plunged into a nightmare realm of their ghastly making. Striding into a rotten discomfort, these songs mostly build from unsettled origins into clusters of claustrophobic noise and howling.

Kicking off with One Time One Place, a restrained Ogre groans as airy synths brood in the distance, quite the spellbinding atmosphere. Its a navigation through pain and discomfort that's gratifying thanks to its soft melodic backing. Sadly, as the most accessible song, what follows descends into a madness with a specific shade lacking the allure to pull me in. These disjointed melodic phrases get roughly pushed aside by punchy Industrial drum kits with an assembly of noises seeming to only loosely fit together. Its hell bent on painting a dark and grisly dystopian soundscape and gets halfway there.

Despite having occasional spurts of curious chemistry to charm and capture ones attention, the janky nature of its inhuman rhythmic drive seems to steer the music into maddening piles of disorientation that ended up being my lasting impression. Some merits lay in aesthetic exploration, where intriguing Industrial textures emerged to be recycled by many more in the genre later on. Sadly though it didn't amount to much beyond the sum of its parts that became apparent after just a single spin.

Rating: 4/10

Skinny Puppy "Bites" (1985)

 

Prodded along by Spotify's recommendation system, I've finally delved into Industrial roots I'm well aware played a pivotal role in informing the likes of Ministry and Frank Klepacki, In turn influencing Rammstein and Timothy Steven Clarke. These influences alone are not strong enough to muster adoration. Repetition has certainly highlighted its musical sensibilities from abrasion and mechanized aesthetics but this familiarity still lingers on an oddity of curious obscurities, lacking a deeper emotional connection.

Bites' sequence of seventeen songs play like experiments of investigation. Musical elements are stripped, rearranged, emphasis pushed onto the unusual and bizarre in search of chemistry to conjure radical, dystopian emotions. In the context of its time, clearly a bold and luminous stride is undertaken into emerging territories. However the shadows of predecessors strip the unusual alien charms of its magic.

Many tracks are simply structured with brief repetitions of Elctro-Industrial noises. Sparse, softly physical percussion and sensible yet subtle melodies accompany. With obscure Horror samples, snarky unwelcoming vocals and other tidbits, the looping instrumentals are taken on psycho visual trips of inhuman suffering. Its resolutions converge on unsettling emotion, often paranoid and conspiratorial in nature yet oddly mellow in comparisons to other breeds of darkness that have been ventured too.

Riffling over these tracks one by one, its hard to pick distinguished ideas that amount to more than the sum of its parts. The album loads its more conventional songs upfront, melody more apparent. Then delves deeper into a string of unstructured noise experiments before landing on two warmer cuts in an obvious tone shift at the end. These were my favorite tracks, they spoke to a calmness one can mellow out with - a utility if you like. Skinny Puppy has been curious listen, one I will continue with.

Rating: 5/10