This review covers the nu metal track Ghoulspoon – Alien Magnet.
This track was released in 1996 on the album Medication. It also made an appearance in the video game Twisted Metal 4.
The track starts with guitar chords. The drum kit them comes in, joining the guitars. After this, the rap vocals come in. When the track builds up further, some quiet screams are added.
From there, the track then pulls back a little with more rap vocals. Again, this is followed by some scream samples. After a a brief instrumental section, the vocals return, only they are more along the lines of singing instead of rapping.
Suddenly, the track goes much more acoustic. The vocals end up being more mumbled for whatever reason.
After this, the track then kicks back into what it was doing before. The vocals then go back to rapping in a rather filtered manner. The guitars kick back into gear as the scream elements come back in.
The vocals then go back into a more singing element. From there, the track largely drops out for a moment. The track ends with more scream elements and guitars before suddenly dropping out completely.
For me, a positive element is the rap elements. It works quite well for such a quiet track. In the musical environment they are in, they work quite well.
The guitar chords, whenever they are present, really gives the track some much needed weight. I really think they give this track a nice sound.
Meanwhile, the downside for this track is that it has such a stop and start sound to it. If you heard this track in Twisted Metal, all of these are taken out and gamers were treated to the best parts of this track. In the full version, there are several “stops” in the track. While I can see this being as an attempt to give this track some variety, it ultimately gave this track a jerky feeling with a lack of a better way to describe it. The flow is ultimately broken up badly here.
Still, I thought there are plenty of redeeming qualities to be had here. I think the rap and singing parts of the vocals worked great. The guitar chords worked well. It’s unfortunate that this track contains so many weird stops, giving this track a jerky feel and ruining the flow. An alright track if you don’t mind the bumps along the way.
Score
7/10
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
