BAD BRAINS: RISE (1993)
1) Rise; 2) Miss Freedom; 3)
Unidentified; 4) Love Is The Answer; 5) Free; 6) Hair; 7) Coming In Numbers; 8)
Yes Jah; 9) Take Your Time; 10) Peace Of Mind; 11) Without You/Outro.
No, no, and no. I am nowhere near H.R.'s
biggest fan — his hypnotic powers were never matched by sufficient singing or
«voice acting» ability, as far as I am concerned — but I do acknowledge that
there is a unique Bad Brains vibe, and that vibe consists of H.R. vs. Dr. Know
much the same way as the Rolling Stones vibe consists of Jagger vs. Richards. A
Bad Brains without H.R.? It would take a proper Jah miracle to make it work.
The new vocals guy, called «Israel Joseph I»,
if you can really believe it, is not a bad singer — in fact, he seems to have a
stronger, tougher, more disciplined set of pipes than H.R. — but that is just
the problem. Rise simply has too much discipline. It is a
professionally constructed mix of about 15% hardcore, 15% grunge, and 70% mid-tempo
thrash metal, with a couple reggae tunes thrown in for good measure — and in
between all the calculations, they seem to have completely lost the emotional
aspect. Of course, it had already started on Quickness, but even that album had a few songs that did not seem
written merely for the sake of keeping themselves busy.
I have nothing to say about these songs. Much
emphasis is placed on crunchy brutality — Dr. Know's guitar tones and Israel's
snarls are more often in the «evil» department than elsewhere, but it is never
convincing: the riffs are highly derivative and uninspired, and the vocals are way
too theatrical. Maybe it would help to be able to evaluate the record
completely outside of its context — as it is, one cannot help but inevitably compare
the «thinner», but genuinely insane vocalizations of H.R. with the
«fully-in-control» attitude of this guy. They simply belong in different
worlds (think a Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett replaced by Alan
Parsons, or any other such analogy).
The last track is particularly surprising —
ʽWithout Youʼ is a funky, but intentionally sentimental ballad, the closest
they had ever come to a properly «sell-out» track thus far. It neither lies in
solid Bad Brains territory, nor is it in any way a good track: and who were
they willing to fool with a goddamn love song? You do not shed tears to Bad Brains material — might just as well start
expecting a symph-rock suite from the likes of AC/DC.
Yes, Dr. Know and his cronies (including
drummer Mackie Jayson, now as a full-term member) are professionals, and this
means there will always be people thinking that there is no such thing as a
Good Brains (= «bad Bad Brains») album, and if you really want to, you can
headbang along to some of these songs quite nicely — ʽUnidentifiedʼ is fast as hell,
and ʽTake Your Timeʼ grinds and howls with all the mercilessness (if none of
the charm) of an Alice In Chains track. But why
would you want to, when the world has so much more, and so much better, in
store for you? Trust the critics on this one — it holds no revelations or
epiphanies, other than the revelation that someone can live with a name like
«Israel Joseph I». Thumbs down.
Check "Rise" (MP3) on Amazon
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