I’m excited people, almost ecstatic. I get to write about one of my top ten favorite bands of all time – Skinny Puppy.

Unfortunately, this is not so much a celebration of their new release as it is an acknowledgment of their impact in Industrial Music. Truth be told, I am fairly disappointed with their last two albums and new sound that has emerged from an almost ten-year hiatus following the death of their keyboardist Dwayne Goettel in August 1995 (RIP). Still, I am honored to write about one of the very few bands that have been true visionaries and innovators over the past 20 years. Unlike anyone before or since, Skinny Puppy used synthetic instruments, movie samples, and organic instruments in a most fluid way. The result was a multi-dimensional journey (see my piece “How I Contracted Rabies” for further explanation coming in the next week).

Skinny Puppy has crafted some of the hardest songs without the use of guitars that have ever been laid to wax. Masters at sonic manipulation, they spun cinematic, emotive, dark, irreverent, and intelligent tunes all at once. Without Skinny Puppy you would have no Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson or Linkin Park.

But, I digress… back to the review (as I cringe to have to write these words to keep with my journalistic integrity) –

Skinny Puppy once had an edge and a deep groove that couldn’t be ignored. There were layers in the darkness. Mythmaker is a matte of light gray. It's like an overcast sky in midday as opposed to a thunderstorm at night with silent flashes of lightening to keep you away from the windows.

The horror elements are gone. There’s no more funk. The visceral production is gone. The heavy basslines are non-existent. Ogre is trying to sing now. I wish that he had stuck to what made him great in the first place. His approach to vocals was unique and you weren’t bothered that he didn’t try to carry a tune because he was creating a rhythm with his voice. I respect him for making a change. As a matter of fact, I respect Skinny Puppy for making a change, but if it’s not broke, then don’t fix it.

I believe that much of the inspiration for their new musical direction has come from their third new member – Mark Walk. With the departure of David Ogilvie as co-producer, and the death of Dwayne Goettel, Skinny Puppy was left with needing some replacements. Mark Walk has worked with the group Ruby (I love his work there) and has helped Ogre (ohGr) with his solo side projects (I like his work there as well), but his sound doesn’t fit Skinny Puppy. It’s very robotic and choppy, not synthetic and grainy. And, consequently the new Puppy albums have lost their bite and multi-layered facets. There was always a (dare I say it) spiritual component or soul to the music that offered a certain sophistication that is missing now.

However, Skinny Puppy will always be a pioneering group. Even when they miss a step they are still heads and shoulders above the rest. Their sound is still progressive, but I believe that it identifies them with the rest of the field rather than separating them from it. For this reason, newcomers will probably take to their new sound. Mythmaker uses what’s hot in today’s production – machine-gun computer beats, spastic sound editing, and high-pitched cyber sounds. This album also carries a strong Rock Opera element. This theatrical approach also dulls their edges.

There is a good mix of fast-paced dancefloor, mid-tempo, and slow ambient tunes, so the album is very balanced in this regard. DaL is a mid-tempo piece with a great opening. The beats fall in like an avalanche of collapsing machines. There is also some nice vocoder work that Ogre does. JaHer is a slow ambient tune with a wonderful mix of piano and acoustic guitar amidst dreamy atmospherics. PolitikiL kicks ass with a killer opening and then forges on. LestiduZ is a booty-bounce punk romp on acid with an eerie keyboard line lurking in the background. PasturN is a mid-tempo slice of cyber polyrhythms as it weaves its way into your brain.

In Mythmaker, there are flashes of greatness that reveal why Skinny Puppy is considered one of the greats in their genre. They have always managed to change with each successive album and fine-tune their strengths. Mythmaker, however, conveys that change is not always better.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed in the hopes that Ogre, cEvin Key, and David Ogilvie come together again to construct another album of greatness…

and show these little punk-ass wannabe hard industrial bands who their daddy is.

by Cazembe Abena

Skinny Puppy

Genre: Industrial, EBM, Progressive Rock

Members: Nivek Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie) [Vocals], cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton) [Instruments, Programming & Production], Mark Walk [Programming & Production]

Country: USA via Canada

Album Review: Mythmaker (SPV 2007)

Album Highlights: “daL”, jaHer”, “politikiL”, “lestiduZ”, “pasturN”

F.L.O. (For Lovers Of) – Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, VNV Nation, Front Line Assembly, Wumpscut

Discography:

Album Producer(s)

Remission (1984) David Ogilvie
Bites (1985) David Ogilvie, cEvin Key
Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986) David Ogilvie, cEvin Key
Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate (1987) David Ogilvie, cEvin Key
VIVIsectVI (1988) David Ogilvie, cEvin Key
Rabies (1989) Alien Jourgensen, David Ogilvie, cEvin Key
Too Dark Park (1990) David Ogilvie, cEvin Key
Last Rights (1992) David Ogilvie, cEvin Key
The Process (1996) Ogilvie, Key, Goettel, Ogre
The Greater Wrong of the Right (2004) Mark Walk, cEvin Key
Mythmaker (2007) Mark Walk, cEvin Key