Before I plunge totally into this review, let me tell you that Limp Bizkit used to be one of my favorite bands. And do notice the emphasis on the verb tense. They have been through many ups and downs, successes and failures to eventually end up at a position where they have just blurred into the background as one of the many borderline pop-rock bands.
Limp Bizkit have released four studio albums in their approximately 6 year career. They started out as Fred Durst (frontman and vocals..ahem), Wes Borland (guitar), Sam Rivers (bass), John Otto (drums) and DJ Lethal (turntables). This remained for the first three albums until the recently released Results May Vary debuted as the first LB album without Wes Borland. Many believed that Wes provided the creative input into the LB productions, and many will continue to believe that.
LB as it stands now is far different from what it used to be when the hard and heavy 3 Dollar Bill Yall was released. My interest in the broadly-defined category of rock music began with Significant Other, the 1999 follow-up to LB’s debut album. I believe now and I think I will continue to believe for a long time that that was by far LB’s best album. It contained a string of great songs: Just Like This, Nookie, Break Stuff, Re-Arranged, I’m Broke, 9 Teen 90 Nine, etc... Almost all the songs were good, save for a few feeble attempts such as No Sex and A Lesson Learned.
Ah...those were the days. When singles from Significant and others like Pollution, Counterfeit, Stuck, and Faith rocked the house. That was the LB one wanted and if one could tolerate the whiney rapping-style of Fred Durst, they really enjoyed the music.
Enter Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. As soon as I heard the name of the album, I knew something was wrong. This long and winding title was definitely a departure from LB’s natural up-front style and rage. My fears were confirmed when I first popped the CD into my discman. At first, the immature tracks captivated my attention -- especially the unrestricted use of cuss words. After hearing the album for a few weeks, I realized that there was no real substance to it, and beyond all the swearing and whining there were just a few solid guitar riffs. Nothing more.
Nevertheless, Starfish blossomed into one of LB’s greatest hits probably because of its appeal to young kids who thought listening to cuss words was cool. Along with this, this album did really market LB for the first time and reach out to a wider audience. (that sentence didn’t make sense but I don’t feel like restructuring it). After this dismal 2001 (or was it 2000?) release, LB took a break after they received the shocking news that Wes Borland was leaving them to pursue his own project. If I hadn’t been such an ardent fan of LB, I could have almost supported his move wholeheartedly!
What followed was a nationwide (well American nationwide) hunt for a replacement guitarist, followed by a recording of an album with another guitarist, followed with another replacement guitarist (the current one whose name I have conveniently forgotten). And then came Results May Vary. When I first heard the single Eat You Alive, I was greatly heartened by the prospect of a comeback from my once favorite band.
However, one can confirm that EYA is in fact the most ’’metallic’’ song on the album and the others are just melodic and soft concoctions that almost sound like soul music. Not that this is bad...this is just not LB. Having said that, I will go on to admit that I quite like the new album. After hearing it for the first time I was quite disappointed at the low decibel levels, but upon further listening, the music was quite appealing.
I still believe that Fred D. has got lots of work to do with his https://lyrics...as now he’s been reduced to singing about his poor life and his childhood. Who cares? The best song in the album (in my opinion) is ’’Behind Blue Eyes’’ which happens to be a cover of The Who. This just shows the levels of creativity that remain in the current LB outfit. I do believe the new guitarist (I now remember, he used to be in Snot...methinks) has lots of talent but they really need to utilize this talent to rise back to the top.
Limp Bizkit as it stands today is much lower than what it used to be before (I know I’ve said this before). People say that all great bands have a great downfall but I argue that LB never became a truly great band. They were always inhibited by their frontman Fred D who was more concerned about maintaining his PR than creating a creative product. The new album doesn’t show any signs of resurrecting the now fading band as it has not receive the public attention that it required. If LB want to become a good band again, they must start now. Otherwise, it is best to part ways.