Review: Primitive Race - Soul Pretender
"Industrial
supergroup" Primitive Race is back! And... not quite as
industrial as before. The core of Chris
Kniker (the very productive producer), Mark Thwaite (Spear of Destiny/The Mission/Peter
Murphy/Tricky), and Erie Loch (Wiccid/Luxt/Blownload) return and are joined by
Chuck Mosley (Faith No More/Bad Brains/Cement) on vocals and Dale
Crover (Melvins/Nirvana/Altamont) on drums. Needless to say, this
album is more raw and consistent than their self-titled 2015
full-length debut, which I also highly recommend. The group has aimed in a different direction and is reborn as a full-on rock band to be reckoned with. But there is a surprising side-effect: on Soul Pretender,
Primitive Race's killer post-punk skills combine with Crover's
legendary pounding and prove to be the perfect backdrop for something of
a Chuck Mosley renaissance.
The album opens
with "Row House", a peculiar thick alterna-tune that's
crunchy and kinda off-kilter, followed by the hooky-chorused "Cry
Out". We take a breath, and PR hits us with the one-two punch of
"Cranial Matter" and "Take It All", the
punk-rockest songs on the platter. I should've mentioned this before,
but Chuck's stream-of-consciousness crooning and rambling are fully
intact throughout. "Bed Six", Stepping Stone", and
"Turn It Up" will bring to mind elements of early FNM and
Cement, but modernized and "Primitized". I guess what I'm
trying to get at here is that Soul Pretender is anything but a
nostalgia act. It is fresh and vital and it rocks. It just has all
the right elements to make its participants shine. Speaking of Soul
Pretender, the title track is haunting and dangerous and could be the
score of a slasher film. A really creepy one. But with an
almost-transcendent chorus. "Nothing To Behold", the sucker
charged with following that monster, succeeds and is easily my fave
of the bunch. It's like the long lost sister of the Bad Brains'
"She's Calling You". What I've always dreamed a proper
studio recording of the Mosley era to be. But likely much better. I know I keep bringing 'em up, but the songs just have these brilliant sounding choruses. Like The Killing
Joke's "The Wait" but kinda pretty. "Dancing On The
Sun" satisfyingly wraps up the disc, leaving me wanting more,
yet knowing that I probably couldn't handle it.
Fans of early
Primitive Race may at first be a tad put off by the less-electronic,
more "organic" overall sound. And Chuck’s voice is very
different from any found on their earlier releases. But this is still
very much Primitive Race. The pickier of PR fans owe it to themselves to give this a
serious listen (or two) before dismissing it. Fans of early Faith No
More definitely need to buy this. Fans of great alternative music
should seek this out immediately. Soul Pretender is one of the best albums of
2017. -Harmless
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