Devin Townsend - Punky Brüster - Cooked On Phonics (1996)

I like to refer Devin Townsend as the Jim Carrey of metal, mostly because he can come up with some really crazy shit, and this album is one of those crazy shits. "Punky Brüster - Cooked On Phonics" (the names are puns of Punky Brewster and Hooked On Phonics) is a concept album about a Polish death metal band named Cryptic Coroner. The band is struggling to make a living out of their music. But one day during a show, when one of the members brakes a string, the band finds a more punk rock style. After that, their career rises like a rocket and they also change their name to Punky Brüster, but the price is that they have sold their souls and now creates music that they do not give a shit about.

This is definitely a fun concept, but it also has some truth in it. Think about it. The music industry today works that people like Miley Cyrus and Lil Wayne, who does practically nothing, gets tons of recognition while artists that writes their own music and really works passionately for their music does not get squat. Yeah, the music industry is pretty fucked up, but we already knew that.

The music on this album is, not surprisingly, punk rock, so do not expect any developed metal madness from this record (except for the first part of the opening track "Recipe For Bait"). There is a big lack of variety in this album and if it was not for the dialogues, this album would be a big mash of fast riffs and easily digestible rock. In other words, a very bad album.

The only two good punk songs on this album is the classic old school punk song "Wallet Chain" and the fast and hooky "Fake Punk". I can also enjoy "Heinous Anus" and "Ez$$" from time to time. But it stands clear that the music is best when it leans more towards old school punk a la Sex Pistols instead of the more skate punk oriented style.

It is the comedy and dialogues that are the star of the show, and hearing Devin interpret the story in a pretty silly voice is just hilarious. But what is even more funny is following Cryptic Coroner's transformation from being heavy metal guys with dark and growling voices to lame punk guys with squeakier voices than Alvin and the chipmunks. It is also easy to feel sorry for the guys who have sold their souls and all they end up to show for is squeaky voices, a Grammy award and fake groupies who are not willing to go all the way when they discover the band's "horrible" secret.

As a concept, this is an excellent album, but as a musical piece, "Punky Brüster - Cooked On Phonics" is pretty weak. The variation is no where to be found and the cheesiness level is through the roof. But this is a album that you should not take seriously. Instead, you should embrace the theme and see the silliness in it. If you do that, then there is a slight chance that you will enjoy this album, but I would not count on it though.

Songs worthy of recognition: Fake Punk, Wallet Chain

Rating: 5/10 Heavy Metal Mamas

https://www.hevydevy.com/
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More reviews of Devin Townsend (solo work)
Ocean Machine: Biomech
Infinity
Physicist
Terria
Devlab
The Hummer
Ziltoid The Omniscient

Empath

Green Day - !TRÉ! (2012)

So here we are, the third and last album in the trilogy by the pop-punk band Green Day. The previous two albums was both having minor punk intentions and some horrible choices when it comes to expanding the bands sound. In other words, the two predecessors to "!TRÉ!" was far from impressive. So it is now up to the band to man up and show that they still have some great puns left in their yet unreleased musical catalog.

Now this album was supposed to be released in approximately January or February next year but the band chose to push the release a little earlier since the compilations with Billie Joe and the drugs. For fans of the band it is a blessing from above. But for me it is just a faster way to get rid of the pain of listening to this trilogy. But I remained positive before listening to "!TRÉ!", and thank god for that. I cannot imagine how angry I would have become if I heard this album when I was in a bad mood. So where should I start? Well, "!TRÉ!" is at least not expanding the bands horizons as much as the two previous albums. You will recognize Green Day in this album. Unfortunately, it is more pop than punk in these songs and even worse, you probably have heard these songs before. No innovative riffs, recognizable drumbeats and deja-vú moments everywhere. It just bores the crap out of me. It is like the band just did not care to make new songs and just copied old songs and putting in new lyrics. That is probably as low as you can get when you get to creating songs.

Let us now look at the songs that did the most impression on me. First of is "Dirty Rotten Bastards" which reminds me of a long and tempo shifting song from "American Idiot" (like "Homecoming" or "Jesus of Suburbia"). A pretty decent song that is one of few bright spots on this album. Another one of those bright spots is the following track "99 Revolutions", the only song that shows some speed. But otherwise there is nothing that is showing as an advantage for Green Day. For instance, did you know that the concluder, "The Forgotten", is on the soundtrack for the latest Twilight movie! That is enough for me to loose all respect for the band (well not all but at least 90%) and a perfect reasong to give this album a low rating.

I think Green Day has bitten more than they can chew. Releasing three albums in such short notice is a bold, but foolish, thing to do. "!TRÉ!" defenitely shows that the band was running out of ideas at the end. There is only one advantage with "!TRÉ!". It does not have any horrible songs like the last two albums had. But just because it does not have songs that makes the ears bleed it does not mean that it can get away with having dull deja-vú songs. Finally, if you are going to make another album trilogy Green Day please take your time and make sure that you make three different albums instead of three similar ones.

Songs worthy of recognition: 99 Revolutions, Dirty Rotten Bastards

Rating: 3,5/10 X-Kids

Green Day - !DOS! (2012)

So here is the second of the three albums that Green Day is releasing this year. The first album had some speedy intentions but did not deliver all the way. And if you are going to believe the classic "count up your reasons law", this album should be the worst of the three ( for those of you who are not familiar with this law, you speak your second strongest reason first, then your weakest reason and finally, your strongest reason is saved for last.), something the cover may be hinting. On the cover we find the basist Mike Dirnt. And you all know that the basist is the more anonymous band member in 9 out of 10 cases. Well, hopefully this album will be the exception that proves the rule.

Just like its predecessor, the sound of "!DOS!" is reminding me of the "American Idiot" era. It was a good era but an era that led to the bands downfall. A downfall you can clearly hear on this album. The band is trying and trying but I can not find any signs of originality. It is like they have copied the songs from "American Idiot" and "Warning!", changed the lyrics and put these songs in three seperate albums. The only thing that could have saved this album is that the songs was above average against what they have released during the 21st century. Some songs are above and some songs are below. But there is one song that is at rock bottom. The song "Nightlife" is probably the worst piece of s**t I have ever heard from Green Day. What the hell were they thinking? First off, Billie Joe sounds like he is on drugs (is this the reason why he is on rehab?). Second off, the beat is slow and really boring. But the worst thing is that in the middle of the song a singer called Lady Cobra (also appears on the song with the same name). Horrible and slow singing. Where did they found this girl? Please, take her back to where she came from.

Otherwise, the songs on "!DOS!" are very similar to the ones on "!UNO!". Nothing surprising but it would be nice with three different albums instead of three albums that are alike. Show us that you are truly creative and versitile instead of showing what you are comfortable with. Think outside the box. Even though there is no shock in this record, the overall sound of the album (except for "Nightlife") is okay. It is typical Green Day punk-pop. But just as I predicted, this album is more anonymous than "!UNO!". I have a harder time remembering the songs and the riffs which is always a bad sign. The band is doing their job like a self playing piano. Good but nothing we have not heard before from the band.

If we compare "!UNO!" and "!DOS!", I would put "!UNO!" higher than "!DOS!". A better overall performance and higher tops is the dealbreaker. Just like the "reason law", the second album from Green Day's three album series is probably the weakest (we will find that one out when "!TRE!" is released) of the three. Mostly because it has the worst song made by any band that is even near punk but also because of the lack of individuality. Step it up boys. Let loose on the third album please.

Songs worthy of recognition: Ashley, Makeout Party

Rating: 4,5/10 Lazy Bones

Green Day - !UNO! (2012)

First off, NO I do not know how to turn one of those explenation marks upside down. That is why I just said f**k it and made both explenation marks normal. Enough of my incompetence on the keyboard. "!UNO!" is the first of three album released in 2012 by the american pop-punk band Green Day. Really not sure why they would make three albums in such short amount of time. Maybe they had to many ideas in their heads that had to get out. Maybe it is a concept series (which I highly doubt). Maybe they got this idea while getting high. I do not know and I do not care. Ever since the mega success called "American Idiot", Green Day has been riding a spiral that leads the band towards the pop world. I do not even see the band as punk anymore. They have totally lost it. So my expectations for "!UNO!" was very low, especially since their last album, "21st Century Breakdown", was a complete mess.

There was a tiny part of myself that hoped that the band would go back to their glory days. The days where they actually were a punk band. Not surprisingly, that little part died as soon I heard this album. It is not an horrible album but it is certainly not punk. The song that is closest is probably the first song on this album ("Nuclear Family"). It is a good catchy song that has a decent amount of speed. Another song that catches my good side is the fun, but very repetetive, "Let Yourself Go". But there ends the fun stuff. Most of the other songs are either boring or just completly weird. Take my advice and do not listen to these following songs. "Oh Love" (never heard a more boring first single ever. And first singles are usually boring), "Sweet 16" (lyrics is just complete garbage) and last, but certainly not least, "Kill The DJ" (WTF!! This is not Green Day. It is something from a shitty teen movie). I am pretty confident that Billie Joe, Mike and Tre was very high when writing these songs. And btw, I wish Billie Joe all luck when he is on rehab. I though have to admit that what he did at the Iheartradio festival. Yeah right he is no Justin F*****g Bieber. He deserves so much more (Billie Joe, not Bieber).

But if we look in the overall picture, "!UNO!" is an album that fits in the middle of the pack. Despite having three of the worst songs Green Day ever has put out on an album, "!UNO!" is like a light version of "American Idiot". It has some hit songs but the material on this album is not enough to bring it all home. I am very curious what the upcoming albums "!DOS" and "!TRE!" has in store. Hopefully they bring more to the chopping block than "!UNO!" did. But one thing was good with this album. It was better the the bands previous one.

Songs worthy of recognition: Let Yourself Go, Nuclear Family

Rating: 5,5/10 Rusty James