Meathook Seed - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (1999)Release ID: 4255
Meathook Seed was originally an industrial death metal side-project from members of Napalm Death and Obituary, with only one album released in 1993. Then 6 years later, founder Mitch Harris revived the project with a different lineup and sound.
With such drastic changes, this second album Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth is surprising to any listeners of the debut Embedded. Instead of the other members besides Harris being Obituary members Trevor Peres and Donald Tardy, taking their places are bassist Shane Embury (also from Napalm Death), drummer Ian Treacy (ex-Benediction), and vocalist Christopher Lamouret (ex-Out). The extreme industrial death metal is out, replaced with simple industrial metal/rock, which I quite enjoy!
The first track "Civilize the World" has ambient guitars, yet the sound for this song is basically dance-metal, stylized with Red Harvest-esque industrial metal and the earlier technical death metal in just the instrumentation. That's actually an intro track compared to the next song "Elemental". Shocking fans of this band is Christopher's singing, as opposed to the growling in the debut. Such great genius in this song that can make any industrial rock/metal compilations! Some might find that song to be like a slightly more metallic mix of Killing Joke and Nine Inch Nails. Entering your head is melodic catchiness worth dancing to. The sound even takes on a bit alt-rock/metal from that decade while blending in with dance-punk. Lamouret sings in passion! "Push Away" is a hypnotizing highlight and one of the best here!
"I Think You Lie" has a bit of the experimentation from Coroner's Grin. "Beautiful" is filled with industrial groove metal beauty. "Dumb Show" is slightly mediocre, but those haunting chords and vocal melodies help save a bit of the album's grace. Can they keep it up in the later tracks? "The Ladder" is a one-and-a-half-minute intermission, and the electronics eerily sound like what Motionless in White would use from their own second album Infamous onwards. "Black Sky" actually reminds me of a much less deathly The Red Chord in the more aggressive moments.
Another song "The Die Is Cast & Cries Will Last" shows how greatly this band can make their metal sound. This might remind some of Peace Love & Pitbulls, but with more metal and less noise. The sound rises again in "And Silence / Build a Rhythm". However, "Question Mark" seems to be a little more of an afterthought. Safely closing the album is "Lost in a Box", a dark symphonic instrumental. It then leads to a 6-minute hidden track that's kind of pointless.
It's so weird how different the band sounded in this album compared to their debut, and yet I enjoy it! Perhaps I like the project slightly more when it was really deviating from Napalm Death's grind sound. Despite the bad reception this album might've received, this is definitely something for any fan of industrial rock/metal!
Favorites: "Elemental", "Push Away", "Beautiful", "The Die Is Cast & Cries Will Last", "And Silence / Build a Rhythm", "Lost in a Box"
