STABBING WESTWARD — Stabbing Westward (review)

STABBING WESTWARD — Stabbing Westward album cover Album · 2001 · Non-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
1.5/5 ·
Warthur
Here is a tragic example of a band frittering away everything when they should have been at the height of their game. In interviews leading up to the release of this one, the band would note how they'd added all these industrial effects and screams and so forth, but said that they felt that this simply made their songs ugly and obscured their inner beauty. This new release would be the real Stabbing Westward - the band simply writing what they felt like, irrespective of fan expectations.

There were two absolutely enormous problems with this approach. Firstly, however you parse that statement from them it seemed to confirm everything anyone had ever said about Stabbing Westward being shallow or insincere. Either they were telling the truth in the interview and they'd never really "felt" their distinctive industrial rock sound, in which case they'd been bullshitters all along, or they weren't being honest in the interview and they were simply changing their sound in response to the commercial tide shifting away from industrial rock, in which case they had become bullshitters now.

The other big problem is that their brand new sound - you know, the one which was supposed to be Stabbing Westward simply playing what was in their hearts without any consideration of fan expectations or commercial demands? Well, as it turned out, it sounded suspiciously like radio-friendly, commercial alternative rock of the most bland and inoffensive sorts.

The lesson embodied in this album is simple. If you are going to throw away your signature sound, make sure you're replacing it with a sound that's exciting enough to be worth the risk.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed