Rock / Hardcore / Metal

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vocalist Eric Rogers, bassist Corey Lowery, drummer Dan Richardson, plus guitarists John Fattoruso and Joey Z

Perfect Self Review

07/13/2005 7:41 AM, AMG

By the end of the '80s, hair metal -- the most popular form of hard rock on the market -- had become a profitable formula, with record companies cranking out band after band that sold albums in direct proportion to how well they epitomized the formula that hair metal's core audience had come to expect. Although the sound and philosophy of alternative metal -- whether its early or late period -- are as far removed from hair metal as you can get, the end of the '90s saw exactly the same phenomenon occurring in that genre. While the most popular alt-metal bands had slight variations in their sounds that were obvious to dedicated fans, to most outside observers (and fans of old-school metal) they all sounded pretty much the same by the end of the decade. Which brings us to Perfect Self, the debut album by Stereomud. It's a fairly standard, pretty well-executed, turn-of-the-millennium alt-metal album, drawing on the familiar Korn/Deftones influences -- although there's perhaps a bit less of a rap influence here than with some of their contemporaries. To untrained ears, it's no better or worse than their competition, because whatever flaws it has simply sound like the flaws of the alt-metal formula in general. The band relies on fury, noise, and groove -- not riffs or melodies -- to get its music across, and its shouted chants can be catchy and intense enough to hook listeners who've grown up with alt-metal (but no one who isn't sold on the style as a whole). So, Perfect Self winds up a creditable entry in the still-flourishing alt-metal sweepstakes -- even if outsiders hungry for a new trend might wonder how much longer the Prize Patrol will be coming around.

Most of the members of Stereomud (vocalist Eric Rogers, bassist Corey Lowery, drummer Dan Richardson, plus guitarists John Fattoruso and Joey Z) aren't newcomers to heavy rock -- Richardson is veteran of both the Crumbsuckers and Pro-Pain, Joey Z was in Life of Agony, while Lowery used to be in Stuck Mojo. Since the members hail from either New York or Georgia, the quintet split their time between the two states, as they honed their heavy yet melodic sound by playing shows and appearing on the now-defunct TV show Farmclub. Soon after, the band was signed to Loud Records (a subsidiary of Columbia), and 2001 saw the release of their debut, Perfect Self. The debut album employed the services of three different big-name producers: Don Gilmore (Lit, Linkin Park, Eve 6), Rick Parashar (Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Blind Melon), and Howie Beno (Ministry, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sister Soleil) and was mixed by Jay Baumgardner (Papa Roach, Godsmack, Orgy).

Perfect Self
Free Images
1.Into
2.Leave(Back Up)
3.Don't Be Afraid
4.Untitled
5.Old Man
6.Pain
7.Stepping Away
8.How We Stand
9.Untitled
10.Down From Here
11.Sunlight
12.Lost Your Faith
13.Get Me Out
14.What
15.Untitled
16.Closer Now
17.Untitled
18.Untitled
19.Untitled
20.Untitled
21.Untitled
22.Untitled
23.Perfect Self

Every Given Moment
Free Images
1.Show Me
2.Anything But Jesus
3.Breathing
4.Define This
5.Control Freak
6.Drop Down
7.Coming Home
8.Fallen
9.Yesterday
10.My Addiction
11.Searching

Free Images

Free Images

Free Images