reax music magazine :: music + culture » Reviews » Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker

Take some Alison With One, Delerium, maybe a little early Prodigy... add some nihilistic Tear Garden choruses, a few Switchblade Symphony synth loops and you've basically got Mythmaker, the new album from Skinny Puppy. A recycled, borrowed, disconnected mess of contrasting elements that doesn't exactly work yet doesn't exactly suck, either. The majority of the songs are uninspired and generic, but the production is good and the beats, albeit overdone, lack affront. Standout tracks are haZe (which is probably the most Delerium-like, borrowing bird noises, chimes, and electric piano almost directly from 1997's Karma) and ugLi (which has a nice, dirty Tzolk'in-esque beat that, when played loudly, is probably the most passionate, energetic moment on the album). The only real disaster is pedafly; its speed metal riffs and comically distorted vocals (a doppelganger of a less well crafted Ministry track) interrupt what little bit of cohesion the album attempts to create.
Overall, Mythmaker is like an episode of Friends: unabashedly formulaic and contrived, yet something you still find yourself secretly watching in syndication. My advice: turn it up, ignore the cheesy lyrics, and get a few good dance sessions out of it before it becomes a coaster for your Big Gulp.