"Fred Durst. The man. The myth. The compulsive masterpiece. You love him. You hate him. You love to hate him."
In this joking elegy excerpted from "Outro," the Limp Bizkit frontman successfully captures the essence that exists behind his image and music.
Limp Bizkit gained notoriety with their hard-hitting debut album, "Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$." Coupled with appearances on Ozzfest and Korn's Family Values Tour, Bizkit exploded onto the Hard Rock scene with an intensity to match its music.
The group's second album, "Significant Other," marks a notable departure from the style that won the band sudden fame.
Consequently, a departure from its formal style means a departure from Korn. The majority of Limp Bizkit's short career has been overshadowed by claims that it's merely Korn lackeys.
"Significant Other" seems to be a serious attempt by Bizkit to distinguish themselves from their brothers-in-arms. The bass that usually dominates both Korn and Limp Bizkit's song has been toned down in favor of a more electronic sound. As a result, the songs on "Other" are strikingly different from the somber endeavors that represent "Three Dollar Bill."
On the disc's first musical track, "Just Like This," former House of Pain and current Bizkit member DJ Lethal plays a large role as the guitars are silenced and replaced primarily with a layered beat that, when coupled with Durst's frantic lyrical offerings, provides the song with an electric quality that permeates through most of the disc.
Durst's songwriting skills can sometimes be a double-edged sword. A lot of the time Durst offers up significant lyrics that flow to the music with amazing craft. On other occasions, the lyrics are nonsensical, silly banality.
A self-proclaimed egotist, Durst tries to be as clever as possible and has the annoying habit of trying to rhyme as many lines in a row with the same word.
Take, for example, this inane exchange from an otherwise good song, "Break Stuff." In five consecutive lines Durst rhymes, "Piper," "Typer," "Sniper," "Diaper" and "Windshield Wiper." And, try as he might, Durst can't weave these random rhyming words into one succinct thought.
Durst spends a lot of the time sharing the microphone on this album. Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man and on-again, off-again Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland both provide lyrics for tracks as does Primus' Les Claypool.
The collective groan that went up when it was announced that Weiland would make a guest appearance can be partially silenced by the fact that Weiland's track, "Nobody Like You," is one of the best on the album. It offers a slightly kinder, gentler Bizkit than the one to which the public is accustomed.
Method Man's contribution, "N 2 Gether Now" throws a straight rap song into the mix of "Significant Other." The song more closely resembles the efforts off of "Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$" and, while it might have simply been average there, it stands out as a contrast to the rest of the disc.
One of the best tracks on the album isn't musical and doesn't even feature any member of "Limp Bizkit." The semi-hidden spoken-word track, "Radio Sucks," features MTV musical guru Matt Pinfield. When it comes to music, Pinfield is a modern-day Buddha-fat, bald and all-knowing.
On "Radio Sucks," Pinfield rants about the current state of American music as it is degraded by mass-produced, shrink-wrapped teen groups, radio overplay and an overall general malaise.
The CD is tied together by a common theme that also gave the disc its title. Through the first seven tracks, Durst continually returns to the subject of a past girlfriend, a "Significant Other." The influence is felt hardest on the current radio smash "Nookie." Durst rhymes in a laid back voice about his experiences, while the pounding chorus supplies his reason as to why he stayed with his girl.
"Nookie"'s success on the radio has been close to unprecedented, and signals the strength Limp Bizkit has in the music industry today.
On the whole, "Significant Other" is a solid follow-up to the success of "Three Dollar Bill, Yall$." Limp Bizkit has avoided the pitfall that plagues most new groups-they have avoided stagnation.
"Significant Other" reveals a band that wants to expand into something new. Many fans might not like the new direction that the band is going, but they're probably the same fans who only liked Limp Bizkit because Carson Daly told them to.
With the release of "Significant Other," perhaps Limp Bizkit can finally break free of the image that they are merely Korn clones. And, if they continue to release albums as good as this one, they might even knock Korn from the top of the rock world.
Grade: A-
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