Editor's Choice...
USA, California... year 2000... driving in our rented Nissan straight to the famous Venice Beach...
Playing in the background, was the most famous rock radio station in the US "KROQ".
We fell in love with the station the moment we arrived in the US.
Great breeze, amazing sunshine, perfect blue sky... and suddenly Jacoby Shaddix's voice cuts through the air shouting !!!
"Cut my life into pieces, this is my last resort"
At the time the two words: "Nu-Metal" were like a magic spell that made any band that belonged to it a dizzying success, and there were many along the way, some rightfully and some by force of energy. But this album proved that this band, and rightly so, is here thanks to talent not only due to current musical trends.
To date, the band has released eleven albums when the latest was released in April 2022 and they prove without a doubt that they are the real thing and not a trend.
Similar to several bands from that period like "Korn", "Staind", "POD" and more, here too the lyrics were based on a difficult childhood with experiences of depression, abuse, suicide, and dealing with life as a teenager.
An interesting story is that the song "Last Resort" was written by Shaddix as a result of the suicide attempt of a very close friend and a roommate of his. He did not see his friend's stress signs or struggles, even when the incident happened he did not know how to help him. He said that the song made millions of teenagers connect to the band's music and that he himself experienced in later years events that made him feel just like the song.
It's also hard to shake off the connotations of the album cover which features a close-up photo of a cockroach !!
The band, which had been formed 7 years earlier and released their debut album independently 3 years earlier, signed a record deal with Dreamworks Records in 1999 and released their second album "Infest" a year later.
(Photo: mhf-mag.com)
The album was ranked number 20 as the best-selling album in 2000 in the United States, sold over 7 million copies, and gave the band Grammy nominations.
The album released great singles such as: "Last Resort", "Broken Home" and "Dead Cell".
In fact, only two new songs were written for the album during the recordings, the other nine songs were recorded even before the release of the first album. The band reworked the songs a bit but they were all recorded before.
Listen to the album, embracing the year 2000, you are welcome to click Play on Spotify, Apple Music
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