The Process [Import]

Well, I rarely write reviews, but this is one of those few CDs that have stuck in my mind so much, that I had to talk about it.

I'm a big fan of Industrial music. I like the popular stuff like Ministry, NIN, and KMFDM but also enjoy the not-so-popular groups like My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Pitchshifter, and Front Line Assembly. I also listen to some electronic music, but generally prefer the faster, harder tracks. I've listened to some Skinny Puppy, and generally when it comes to their songs I either really love them ("Testure", "Worlock", and "Anger" come to mind) or I just plain hate them. When I say I hate them, I mean that they just sound like noise with absolutely no structure or point ("Download" is a song like that). Either way, with my love for the genre, I continually check out Skinny Puppy tracks when I come across them.

...And when I finally came across the Process albume, I couldn't have been more pleased! I was hooked on this album from the first track "Jahya". It's a track that starts off quietly, and then bursts into several layers of music and noise, including a beautiful piano sequence. On top of all that is loud percussion and some very loud metal guitars that just make you want to head bang. The music warps and blurs and then fades to strange industrial/techno sound and then the track is over. It's just amazing. I had never heard a song like it, and I wanted more. Luckily, Process delivered.

"Death" is the next track, and I was equally blown away. The vocals are angry and the song just makes you want to throw someone through a plate glass window. Everytime "Doesn't mean a thing!" is shouted I just want to punch someone. I was really suprised by the amount of guitars on the albume... SP CD's are generally more electronica/noise driven, but this is one album metal-heads would enjoy as well.

"Candle" and "Cult" are two of the slower songs on the album, and generally I'm not a big fan of slow industrial songs. Well, I love both of these tracks. "Candle" is almost an acoustic song, but it has some layers of guitar in the background that keep it from sounding like it doesn't belong. It's really a beautiful song. "Cult" is more of an electronic song, but is the closest to a ballad that SP will ever get. Either way, both are very listenable and I would never skip either track.

"Hardset Head" and "Curcible" are closer to the style of "Death" in that they are fast, unforgiving, and very heavy songs.

"Process", "Morter", and "Amnesia" are all really hard to describe. They fit on the album, but aren't really heavy or soft. They're right in between, in an area that you rarely see in the industrial genre.

"Blue Serge" is the song that will make you move whether you want to or not. It's the closest track to a techno/dance track that you'll ever hear from SP, but it has a unique sound that no one else could copy. I love to hear this when I'm driving.

"Cellar Heat" is the closer, and is really the only track I could do without. It sounds like a conglomeration of the previous tracks layered over each other continuously and then metaphorically flushed down the toilet. It's an interesting closer to the album, and it seems to say "We did all this, and it's really for nothing." just like how some of us feel after we accomplish something in life and realize just how little it really means.

The album easily gets a 5 out of 5, and I would give it more if I could. I like every song, though "Jahya", "Death", "Candle", and "Blue Serge" stand out the most. If you like the industrial genre, and even if you're not a fan of too many Skinny Puppy tracks, pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.

Longtime fans have made a pasttime out of trashing this album, claiming that its not skinny puppy. Now that greater wrong of the right has distracted their scrutiny from this, here's my $.02.

It's beautiful, i think its the most beautiful puppy album. Quantifying it, saying it is greater or less than, for instance, too dark park, is not possible. But the sound of the process is highly accessible for puppy, in that I liked it the first time I heard it. Zealots would have you believe that this album is a tailspin into the lobotomized realm of pop music. It's not. It's weird as hell.

All of the songs are good. You may recognise Jahya, they stole it and used it in the 6th day preview a while back. Death is monotonous and spasm/scream-inducing. Candle is startlingly unique, and nearly acoustic. Hardset head is invincible hard cunning. Cult is a melancholy amplifier, and Process and Curcible are plain weird. Blue serge is the dance floor hit, it seems. Morter's simultaneously grating, crazy and beautiful, more than usual. Amnesia is just plain beautiful, with a hint of tear garden psychodelia.

Process is the most melodious album, the most strident attempt at dark beauty. I think Dwayne made a hell of a last blast, his effect is undeniable. It will knock you on your ass and drag you by your ankles through a world you've never seen, without explaining or slowing down. Are you being indoctrinated with doomsday cult brainwashing? Or is it just 'opening up channels' as ogre said he intends to do with his music? It does not elicit anger or sorrow, it just reams out a gaping hole in your mind, to let loftier things blow through.

I feel that this album is the best introduction to skinny puppy. Most of the other stuff, as great as it is, took me a long time to absorb and appreciate. Remission's a definite exception, but process is more timely. Like a decade from now timely.

Now, don't look at that subject and crucify me. Unfortunately, it cannot be avoided, I must immediately leap onto the proverbial soapbox to properly review this album to: 1) Hammer in some points that some reviewers haven't quite put enough emphasis on, and 2) Explain the "rules of engagement" of this album.

First and foremost, and I've said this in several reviews, if you want to experience the true sound of Skinny Puppy, by all means, DO NOT start with Process. This is more important with Process than any other album. Their sound here is *far* different from their releases. This is due to several factors: 1) D.R. Goettel (R.I.P.) was not a part of much of its making. 2) There are extremely prominent elements of pop-like rhythm and very heavy metal influences not seen in any other album, even Rabies. 3) Most of Process was put together from pieces of what was left, and released AFTER Skinny Puppy disbanded.

However... despite all these things, Process will always have a place in my heart. The music here has the meaning and the impact of any other album and can hold its own with even the greatest (TDP, VIVIsect, and LR...)

Just as the albums listed above paved the way and set a possibly untouchable example of electronic music, Process sets the same example in the realm of what I've come to know (loosely, anyway) as electronic metal. Yes, the songs are, on average, MUCH more accessible than previous Puppy... and I, for one, welcome the change... because Process is a journey into some of the extremes of Skinny Puppy. The entire album, listened to as a whole, is nothing less than a ride up and down a sinister rollercoaster.

With Jahya, a very foreshadowing introduction, the ride begins. Thundering guitars, wonderous synths, and dark, cryptic lyrics... sewn in here and there with trademark SP-style samples. Then to Death, an apocalyptic storm of furious guitar, absolutely beautiful lyrics (among SP's greatest), and movements that start and stop so dramatically at times that the listener is left with whiplash. Then it stops altogether, and Candle begins... probably the most accessible song SP ever made (except maybe Testure). The lyics have the ring of Pink Floyd's "The Wall", tainted with Ogre's nigh-indestructible stream of consciousness. Again, very guitar oriented, and consistent in its beat and its flow. From here things go slightly downhill with Hardset Head, one of the weakest points of The Process. The synths are disruptive to the song in places, and the repetitive pop influence in the song disrupt the album in general. Don't get me wrong, it's not *bad* but it does have frequent encounters with my skip button. It seems the trend here is that the more metal-imbued, guitar-driven songs tend to be the best of the album. The one exception: Cult, another Skinny Puppy extreme, being the most unobtrusive, most tranquil song I can remember hearing from them... even when the guitar suddenly blasts in, it flows with the song, which has a shocking lack of SP's patented noise. Prepare yourself, however, for Process, and especially Curcible, are the opposite end of the pendulum again. In both these songs, much of the lyrics are somewhat chanted in a unison pool of Ogre's voice looped over itself, in different pitches... over music that is heavy start-and-stop, and very unforgiving. The end of Curcible, however, is a bit surprising in its peacefulness. On to Blue Serge, a beat-driven, cacophonic (especially in the synths) song that I've honestly never been able to enjoy. I think it's mainly due to Ogre's lyrics, which seem uncharacteristically lifeless and unexpressive here. Morter, although I find it a little more interesting, falls (albeit not as deep) into this same trap. Then the pendulum swings again to Amnesia, which has a feel unlike anything SP has done... almost to the point of being alien even to this album. Its independence alone increases my interest in it. And finally, there is a typical SP noise outro, this time given the name of Cellar Heat.

Altogether, The Process is a very solid effort, but prepare to be caught unaware by its completely atypical style. No matter what, the most adhering thought that seems to circulate about this album is that it is one of the best the electronic/metal side has ever known... and others in the genre could learn much from the great Skinny Puppy.

Brap on until the very end.