Released on the heels of a much publicized and failed reunion, relations in the band were at an all time low during the recording of this album. And the music reflects that. Opener "Find Myself" reveals the band's new musical direction. Something akin to "Ministry" run through a garbage disposal, the band heads into the 1990s in all the wrong ways. Extremely distorted, the vocals lie buried beneath a thick, metallic wall of clashing guitars. Terrible sounding. Single "Afraid" is slightly better, very reminiscent of former guitarist/vocalist "John Corabi's solo material, the mix again sucks, but the song is quite catchy and raw. Not a bad song. "Flush" is next, totally out of style for Vince Neil's vocals and shows that he clearly was not very involved in the writing of the album. Corabi clearly wrote most of this album, and this song shows that to be true, sounding like something off of 1994's self-titled album. Vocals again are totally buried beneath a sea of digital effects, but the song is not a total write-off. "Confessions" comes next. An absolutely terrible song, I have never heard a worse mix on any song to date. Vocals are very unintelligible, and muttered. Mick Mar's guitars are clunky and lack oomph, they just lie there doing nothing (like Vince Neil at the time). Even Tommy Lee's drums sound weird and digital, a nice attempt at a grittier sound, but it just sounds dated and cheap.
Single "Beauty" comes next. Sounding like a strange electronic version of "ZZ Top", the song is a true curiosity the in Crue canon. Definitely unique sounding, I could do without the keyboards, but not a bad song. Probably the best on the album. "Glitter" is another step in the electronic music direction. Co-written Bryan Adams, the song is really a failed experiment. The electronics are totally out of style for the band, despite the song writing being somewhat strong. In its current form, I cannot take the song seriously. Next, "Anybody Out There" is a very short, punky song. Much better sounding and lacking the electronics that permeate the album. But I have never been a fan of Crue punk songs, and I have always felt that Mick Mars is much better suited to riffing than power chord crunching. "Let Us Prey" it total Corabi, and very Soundgarden-like. Actually a decent song, the riff crushes but sounds out of character with the aging Crue. Sixx's bass tone is quite nice on this song, and Neil screeches like a maniac. "Rocketship" is interesting as it features Nikki Sixx on lead vocals. Obviously not a strong vocalist, it is nonetheless a fairly sweet song Sixx wrote to his new beau Donna D'Errico. Very chill, almost Smashing Pumpkins-esque, I still like this song. "A Rat Like Me" features heavy backing vocals from Tommy Lee. Lee makes Sixx's vocals sound awesome, and they almost ruin the song. Basically a confession of the deplorable nature of the band's personalities, I feel pretty scummy just listening to this song. Not bad and step in the right direction, strange digital effects on the solo again sound awkward.
"Shout at the Devil 97" is a totally useless remake of the classic 1983 song. Skip. The album closes with "Brandon". Showing that Tommy is truly a romantic, the song is incredibly cheesy and lame, but is very sweet. A bad song, but very touching when considering he wrote it the night of his first son's birth.
"Generation Swine" is bad. But, it is worth a listen if you like Motley Crue. For casual fans, stick to the classics.
Review-4.5/10
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