FILTER — Short Bus (review)

Album · 1995 · Industrial Metal

4/5 · 2017-03-23
Unitron

In the land of industrial rock and metal, many bands get unfairly compared to Nine Inch Nails. While those who are more familiar with the genre will find that these comparisons are often silly and nonsensical, these are probably simply due to NIN being the one that really "made it big". Sure, other bands have had their fair share of popularity over the years, but NIN remains the most remembered and popular.

One of the many industrial rock/metal bands to get these comparisons was Filter. True, frontman Richard Patrick was a live guitarist for NIN before forming Filter, but Patrick felt there was something missing in Reznor's sound. Once you finish the first song on the album, the hit "Hey Man, Nice Shot", it's quite apparent. That which was missing was a crushing metallic slab of guitars, blended with menacing industrial soundscapes. This continues throughout most of the album, think less NIN and more Godflesh and Pitchshifter. The crunch of the riffing, drum grooves, and screeching industrial distortion all makes it fit right in line with the classic industrial metal sound, while also having just the right amount of that misanthropic angst that industrial music had at the time.

The aforementioned hit that opens up the album is of course probably the top highlight, but there's many other songs here that slam your face into the pavement. "Under" is one of the best of these, with an awesome pummeling groove. The two surrounding songs of "Dose" and "Spent" are also among the highlights and deliver with great force. All of these mentioned songs along with "Gerbil" and "White Like That", all have this absolutely massive guitar and colossal drum sound blended with Richard Patrick's raging screams, which is this album's strength.

Unfortunately, not all these songs display the power riffage and edgy screams that this album is great for. Right after a crushing number like "White Like That", you get a double-whammy of pathetic whimpers in "Consider This" and "So Cool" which both fall flat on their faces. The former has electric guitars, but they may as well not be there, while the latter is an acoustic ballad that sounds like a rejected Porcupine Tree ballad. "Stuck in Here" is another one of these tracks, but maybe a bit less annoying.

Despite there being a few terrible tracks, all the punchy groovy industrial behemoth tracks make up for those mistakes. If you're looking for an industrial metal album that balances out the heaviness and distortion of Godflesh and Pitchshifter with the extra edge of alternative metal, Filter's Short Bus delivers. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!

more than 2 years ago
Permalink
Report #296705

Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer

Please login to post a shout

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

How did you enjoy listening to it again Peter?

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I haven't listened to this in ages. I should dig it out and give it a spin.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

That's true, although here I was more trying to say how these bands sometimes get dismissed as clones because of the comparisons. Maybe I should have been a bit more clear.

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

The NIN comparison is a bit unavoidable with this band though, considering the link.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yeah, it annoys me as well. It's just NIN's presence is so massive that there are so many 90's industrial rock/metal bands unfairly compared.

aglasshouse wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Even though it makes sense in this context, it still sucks that in almost every industrial metal review there seems to be a need to mention Nine Inch Nails. I do it too, and I hate that I do.