Kingcrimsonprog
Lost And Found, Mudvayne’s third studio album saw the band move further away from the experimental groundwork laid on LD. 50 and towards a more traditional, commercial sound. The album featured the huge single ‘Happy?’ and gained the band a whole new audience.
The album is of an undeniable high quality; with a better production job, more polish, improved singing from Chad and a bunch of well thought out enjoyable songs. It is important to note however that the album did bring about a change in the band’s style, with a lot more radio friendly moments, a different and more simplistic approach to song structures and more direct lyrics.
Songs like ‘IMN,’ and ‘Rain.Sun.Gone,’ are perfect examples of what Mudvayne do best, and they now sit alongside cleaner, more commercial songs like ‘Fall into Sleep,’ ‘TV Radio,’ and ‘Forget To Remember,’ which seem aimed at a different audience entirely. Luckily for fans, although the style is different than they had come to expect, for the most part the quality had not declined at all.
Opener ‘Determined,’ is a fantastic song, retaining all the fire and energy that made the band’s previous two albums so great, heavy and fast but still very unusual and creative, with particularly impressive drumming. ‘Just,’ is similarly enjoyable and impressive and also captures the style of The End of All Things To Come.
Other highlights include ‘Pushing Through This,’ which is probably the heaviest song on the album, and seems to show off the band’s groove metal influence more than any other song in their catalogue, while still retaining their bass pops, awkward riffs and Chad’s trademark vocal style.
For older fans, Lost and Found may be initially off putting but repeat listens will reveal more highlights than flaws. A feeling that this album is a serious departure or that the mid album tracks are dull and uninteresting is a perfectly understandable first impression, but its worth sticking with the album to understand the quality of the material even if you disagree with choices the band have made.
It is unfair to label this album as a ‘sell out,’ and while it may not be the single greatest thing they’ve ever done, it is an excellent record that every Mudvayne fan should give a chance, especially for ‘Determind,’ and ‘Just.’