Zitat:Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

In case you didn't catch the symbolism, Chris Cornell is smashing a guitar on the cover of Scream because he's done with those six-strings -- he's leaving it all behind for Timbaland, who has long wanted to leave hip-hop and R&B behind to make a rock album. If this seems like the pair are working at cross-purposes to achieve the same goal, that's as accurate an assumption as the guess that the two are abandoning their strengths, even their sense of self, in a bizarre shared middle-age crisis. Scream is one of those rare big-budget disasters, an exercise in misguided ambition that makes no sense outside of pure theory. As an idea, this rock-dance fusion isn't without merit; clearly, Cornell needs to do something to shake himself out of his solo stupor and Timbaland is an imaginative, daring producer whose gifts are not limited by genre, but this isn't a collaboration, it's a car collision. As much as they want to stretch, neither Cornell nor Timbaland are willing to leave their comfort zone or -- perhaps more accurately -- are able to leave the familiar behind. Timbaland's productions never approach rock in sound or form but to be fair, his tracks are often augmented by additional production by anyone from Justin Timberlake to OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, who brings his contributions as close to anonymous radio fodder as he possibly can. Whoever was directly responsible, Scream winds up sounding like skittering, generic dance-pop, the kind of thing that Timbaland contributes for a high price to a Pussycat Dolls album, only graced by Cornell's caterwaul, sometimes looped, sometimes manipulated by Auto-Tune because that's what you do with a pop album in 2009. Cornell's growl clashes against the cold, clinking rhythm tracks -- not in a challenging way, just in a jarring one, drawing attention to the chasm between the two collaborators. Then again, Scream never seems like a collaboration, it seems like it was assembled by committee, discussed in boardrooms, farmed out to contract players and stitched together on computer. This might make for a mess, but Scream does have one advantage of Chris Cornell's other solo albums: as bad as it is, it is never, ever boring.

Rock Hard schrieb:Sehr rücksichtsvoll. Um dem Rezensenten die Arbeit zu erleichtern, liefern BETRAY MY SECRETS die Stilbeschreibung "Ethno Metal" gleich mit und liegen damit gar nicht so falsch. Obwohl einem die Komponenten vertraut vorkommen - das Mischungsverhältnis macht's. Elemente, die sonst bestenfalls zur Untermalung dienen, treten hier in den Vordergrund und stehen gleichberechtigt neben fett und in bester Rammstein-Manier ('God And Me') inszenierten Gitarren. In erster Linie wären die sauber arrangierten, mehrstimmigen Vocals zu nennen, die beim episch-breiten 'From The Goddess' in einem schönen Choral gipfeln, der gar die Glanztaten der teutonischen Prog-Urväter Eloy heraufbeschwört. Für den nötigen Drive sorgen die Megaherz- und Dark Seed-Mucker mit knackigen Rhythmen, Tribal-Chants ('Shamanic Dream') und zahlreichen Ausflügen in fernöstliche Klangwelten, die an die Partituren von Filmen wie "Green Snake" (der Chorus von 'Oh Great Spirit'), "Ashes Of Time" (der Einstieg zum Instrumental 'Desert Dance') oder "Bride With White Hair" (das Intro von 'Of Things Not Seen') erinnern. Dezent eingestreute akustische und orchestrale Parts ('Forgive Them') und kraftvolle Death Metal-Growls ('Ever Expanding Eternity') sorgen für das nötige Maß an Abwechslung, was unterm Strich eine cool klingende Mischung ergibt. Auch wenn sich's krude liest - "Betray My Secrets" ist eine relaxt produzierte und gar nicht mal kopflastige Angelegenheit geworden, die nie überladen wirkt und allenfalls Puristen auf den Magen schlagen wird. Wer sich etwas Zeit nimmt und der vermeintlichen Herausforderung stellt, wird mit einer abwechslungsreichen und extrem vielseitigen Scheibe belohnt, die sich einer festen Genre-Zuordnung erfolgreich verweigert. Das verdient Respekt!

Zitat:Dope really don't get a lot of recognition in the rock/metal community today. Maybe it's because none of their albums have won any special awards or charted well or maybe it's because they haven't released an album in 4 years and a band with this much popularity faded out of thought to all of us. Regardless, they are back and better then they ever have been before.

I got this album with a lot of anticipation. "American Apathy" was a great album, but it lacked the catchi-ness that made "Life" such a great and fun record. It didn't flow that well and got boring easy. The music here however is much, much better. The Guitars are definetly worth noting, for they have improved drastically. Virus incorporates pinch harmonics and solos into a lot of the songs on this record, and it really works well. The riffs are fast, heavy, and catchy - just what you would expect in a Dope album except they are better than before. Edsel Dope pulls out all the stops on his vocal performance here. Listen to "Felons and Revolutionaries" then listen to this record...there is a big difference. His range is limited, but he uses all of it as best he can and it's great. On tracks like "My Funeral" he presents some of his catchy and great clean vocals with a great chorus that goes with the heavy riffs and on songs like "6 6 Sick" he screams his way through in a relentless onslaught that can only be Dope. the band also picked up a new Bassist for this album cycle - Tripp Lee Tribbett. In some of the songs his bass lines are hidden behind the crunching guitar riffs of Virus, but he does make his presence known in some songs. Angel, the drummer, puts out some great and heavy beats here and there and keeps the furious pace of Dope's music up in all the songs present here.

The album flows nicely from start to finish. Tracks like "Flatline" , "Interlude" , and "Bloodless" serve as intros to their respective corresponding songs and might seem to some people as unecessary, but they help the album flow through and I never saw a problem with them. The band also did a cover of the Billy Idol classic "Rebel Yell". While some might not see this as a big deal (countless bands have covered this song) , Dope actually did a great job and make the song fun to listen to. "Addiction" is another standout track. Being the album's first single, it features the guitar work of famous shredder Zakk Wylde of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Label Society fame. His guitar work on the song is great and the solo is a great addition to the song. "Die, Boom, Bang, Burn, ***" is a live parody of the songs "Die MF Die" , "I'm Back" , "Sick" , "Burn", and F**k tha Police" from their previous albums. It's not a necessary trck to this album, but its still a cool listen and Virus makes all the riffs sound better than they do on the previous records (even throwing a solo in there as well). A lot of people might have alread heard the albums closer, "Nothing For Me Here", already on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock as a bonus track. Its a great song, featuring fast riffs and a catchy, cleanly-sung chorus by Edsel that finishes the album suddenly and leaves the listener wanting more.

When it comes down to it, "No Regrets" really is a great album. Edsel and his band have never sounded better and most of the tracks here are great and fun to listen to, just like the other Dope albums. Being a fan of the band, I wasn't dissapointed, but their music is not everyone's cup of tea. 4 years after the release of "American Apathy" , Dope still today show that they can kick some serious ass no matter how many years they dissapear from the heavy music scene on this fun, fun record. Pick it up and give it a listen...you might just find yourself really enjoying this stuff.

VÖ: 2009

Genre: Instrumental Post Rock

Label: Eigenproduktion

Herkunftsland: USA

Für Fans von: siehe Genre


Tracklist:

01. From Roots To Needles
02. What's In The Ground Belongs To You
03. Terra Incognita
04. Above The Earth
05. Below The Sky
06. The Sun Is In The North
07. Thirty-Six Silos
08. The Flames Of Herostratus
09. Rebuilding The Temple Of Artemis
10. Deus Ex Machina

Spielzeit: 45:01

Meine Wertung: 8.0/10

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