PRONG — Cleansing (review)

PRONG — Cleansing album cover Album · 1994 · Groove Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
Although beginning as a thrash metal band PRONG had clearly changed their sound by the time they got to their fourth album CLEANSED. Here they take the galloping groove metal guitars and bass of Pantera and mix it with an industrial sound courtesy of new ex-Killing Joke recruits Paul Raven on bass and John Bechdel on keyboards. There's also an alternative and cross-over thrash metal feel to some of it as well reminding a bit of Suicidal Tendencies. This was PRONG's finest hour as this album garnered them enough attention to tour with both Sepultura and Pantera.

I'm really not too keen on Tommy Victor's lack of vocal range and some of the material is fairly generic. There really isn't a lot of variety between many of the tracks either but when they hit a high note like on “Cut-Rate” or “No Question” with groovy heavy bass and squealing guitars then they really deliver an intense and convincing sound, however i'm also underwhelmed by the mostly mediocre drums throughout the entirety of the album. An ok album but doesn't really compete with the groove metal of Pantera or with the industrial or thrash metal of pretty much any of the greats and at this point in time it seems a little weak compared with all that came before it. Point blank not really enough here for me to like.
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Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Most things I've ever read about Prong have stuck them in industrial or crossover, depending on the age of the album. No problem with the labelling. I've always found them to be a challenging but rewarding listen.
Kingcrimsonprog wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Samey? Some of it is fast and some of it is slow groovy. Some of it is thick and some of it is thin and punky. Some of the songs towards the end have a weird Black Flag/Melvins vibe.

Sublime and Snap Your Fingers sound like two different bands.
Who's Fist Is It Anyway and Not Of This Earth sound like two different albums at least.

Its a lot of things, but it aint samey.
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I love groove metal whether it's Pantera, Sepultura, Lamb Of God or pretty much any of them but there is a certain vocal style i just can't stand and this is it. That matched with the weak drumming and the overall sameness of the tracks just leaves me cold with this one. I'm glad you find it redeeming. I won't hold it against ya ;)
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I get why this wouldn´t necessarily appeal to everybody, but personally I really enjoy "Cleansing". Maybe because the Whole groove metal scene was relatively new at the time, and at that point in time Prong was one of the big players.

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