Once innovators in the fusion-rock genre they brought to the mainstream, Limp Bizkit's kinetic identity was devastated when guitarist-extraordinaire Wes Borland split from the band a few years back.
After holding auditions nationwide for a new guitarist, Limp Bizkit finally decided on Mike Smith, who makes his band debut with "Results May Vary," its first collection of new material in three years.
While prior albums were energetic and filled to the brim with aural treats, Limp Bizkit's new record slows the pace and tames the rage of years past. Fred Durst, leader of the group, has used Borland's departure to consolidate power within the band and is now the sole personality and captain of the quintet.
The album starts in typical Bizkit fashion with a pseudo-skit followed by musical experimentation. Right off the bat, Limp Bizkit parades out new guitarist Mike Smith with his best riff of the record.
The second track and first single off the new CD, "Eat You Alive," is a deceiving imposter of the singles of the former Limp Bizkit. Fans hoping this single accurately represents the album's style are in for a surprise.In fact, though the CD starts off classically, songs slowly but surely deviate from the spiteful and braggadocios tone that initially gave Limp Bizkit their identity. This deviation is neither good nor bad, but belies the Bizkit's loss of identity following Borland's departure.
With this release, the band has abandoned its trademark harmonic fury for a more moderate and marginalized median of ambiguous band identity and the indecisive sound that comes with it.
Just about the only hint of Limp Bizkit's rebellious past is "Red Light-Green Light," a collaboration with Snoop Dogg freestyle rapping such double-intentioned lines as "Tell me when you're ready to roll."
Similar to previous releases, "Results" displays Durst's ability to reiterate rudimentary phrases in a variety of syntaxes. Despite redundancy, however, Durst brings an overarching theme to the album, something lacking in previous efforts. Though disjointed, Durst's thematic maturity is a conventional and welcome progression. Bassist Sam Rivers comes along for the ride, providing basic bass lines to compliment Durst's relatively introspective lyrics. Themes revolving around age, mortality and the past run throughout the tracks. While no single song is convincingly performed, the album's message as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Apparently, Borland's departure awakened in Durst a sense of mortality and the fragility of life, especially fame. "Results May Vary" is Durst's stab at a conceptual record
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
