Skinny Puppy - Rabies - 1989 Nettwerk/Capitol 8.0/10.0
Aiiiight, shuddup rivetheads.. I realize that "Spiceworld" got a higher score than this album- this doesn't mean that I love this classic any less.. for in fact, this album rates much higher, in "real-world" scoring. Give me "Tin Omen" over most anything else in the world, any day or night.. However, you have to rate Skinny Puppy albums much harsher than most other things, simply because you know the talent and vision with this band is godlike.
So whats up? why the 8.0?? Well.. this is Skinny Puppy, yes.. but at the same time, its not. I have a hard time with this cd, it's too "clean" and structured- it has Jourgensen's stamp all over it, and yes.. thats a very good thing, but also looses a little of the puppy "magic," as horrific as that may be. So, what we have here always reminds me of a Ministry side-project, instead of a true Skinny Puppy release. Same thoughts on all of the "CHICAGO" stuff all over the liner notes.. Isn't Skinny Puppy from Vancouver? Yeah, this was released at the height of the Chicago/Wax Trax! legacy.. but come on, make it a little less obvious...
I remember this cd was marketed as "dance music as hard as the world we live in," and while that may be true- you can tell the shift in focus, as to produce an intentional "dance album," rather than just producing music that forces you to dance anyways. The rhythms are thumping and strong, yet not HARSH...(Anger or Human Disease, anyone?) the songs have melody, choruses, etc. "Worlock" and "Tin Omen" are the strongest cuts.. the first being a haunting, futuristic dance piece, entirely beautiful in Skinny Puppy's apocalyptic fashion.. the later existing as an angry, bloody slice of mosh-pit fodder. Yes, they both rule, but again.. I hear much more Ministry (Jourgensen produced this disc) and less Puppy. "Rodent" was a stomping Metropol staple, back in the day.. although it simply bores me until that heavy guitar riff kicks in, about 3/4 of the way through. "Hexonxnx" however always blows me away with its thumping bump-n-grind beat, sinister aesthetics and evil samples.. definitely high quality.
"Fascist Jock Itch" is crazy.. brutaly fast and polished, especially with the vicious snyth riffs... "Rain" and "Rivers" are both amazing, although they sound too much like thier "Doubting Thomas" side project, with their eerie, halloweeny feel. "Chloralone" is a massive slice o' samplin'... lots of great stuff from "A Clockwork Orange," but no real depth.. the other two tracks, "Amputate" and "Spahn Dirge," simply exist, without true focus.
Yes, this is a strong album.. great tracks that sound even better, REALLY REALLY LOUD. but I still can't leave my ideas about Skinny Puppy at the door. This sounds like an entirely different band than the guys who created Vivisect, Cleanse or Mind.. I love it, but at the same time, it is also difficult to forget how they returned to their signature sound with the 1990 follow up, "Too Dark Park." Perhaps "Rabies" was something fun to record- a slamming industrial dance album for the sweaty summer of 1989, before serious work began on a true puppy album.. "Too Dark Park" is a scary, violent album that still makes you feel less than well, 15 years later.
Rabies however, simply earns an 8.0/10.0