Reviews list for Mushroomhead - XIII (2003)

I've pretty much just fallen off from alt-metal after my recent departure from The Gateway. I've moved away from alt-metal bands and even some bands that mix the genre with others like metalcore and industrial metal. When this Mushroomhead album XIII ended up as a Gateway feature release, I thought I would give this band and album another go. And I have to say...

I still enjoy this! The experimentation I can admire when blended with the accessibility they've gained after their first 3 albums that were self-released. I've considered Mushroomhead a standout band in alt-/nu metal, and revisiting this excellent album made me restore that thought.

Opening track "Kill Tomorrow" has some of the stoner-ish vibes of early Black Sabbath given a more anthemic alt touch. "Sun Doesn't Rise" is the first single, a commercial yet metal banger with a catchy chorus sung and growled by vocalists Jeffrey Nothing and J Mann, respectively. The band gains some strength in "Mother Machine Gun", which has some moody piano. Then we have some smooth emotion in "Nowhere to Go". And some heaviness in "Becoming Cold (216)".

"One More Day" is more of a gothic-sounding power ballad with violin and female singing, the latter performed by Devon Gorman. That's the kind of experimentation I love that they didn't have too much of in their underground releases, though the earlier heaviness would carry on into subsequent tracks in this offering... "The Dream is Over" is so d*mn brutal with guest vocals by Meshuggah vocalist Jens Kidman. "The War Inside" explores breakneck speed which makes another highlight. "Almost Gone" has more of that old-school Sabbath twang in the riffing which I don't mind. "Eternal" is more focused on speed and roars. A little tiring but still great.

"Our Own Way" is the most melancholic track, with nothing but sorrow in the piano, guitars, and vocals. I love it! Though it's only surpassed by the 8-minute epic "Destroy the World Around Me". The doomy drama of that track I think should've ended the album right there. However, it is followed by the one track I find somewhat weak, track number "Thirteen". It sounds a little too creepy and almost comes out as filler. And I'm not too crazy about their cover of "Crazy" by Seal, though it's still OK.

If this album ended with that 8-minute epic, I would've consider Mushroomhead's XIII a perfect album enough to make me reconsider abandoning all of alt-metal. Still the majority of this release has satisfied me. Who knows if I might revisit their later albums someday? Well, never say never!

Favorites: "Kill Tomorrow", "Sun Doesn't Rise", "One More Day", "The Dream is Over", "The War Inside", "Our Own Way", "Destroy the World Around Me"

I was a bit more sympathetic to the 'charms' of nu-metal back in its heyday, and regularly spun CDs from the likes of Slipknot, Korn and Spineshank. Mushroomhead's "XIII" was another that I picked up at the time of release. It appealed to me because it felt like it had quite a dark and ominous subtext to it, as opposed to the youthful anger and impotent rage of the more popular nu-metal acts. However, as I succumbed more and more to the seductions of extreme metal, the rap-heavy and ultimately impotent anger of nu-metal dropped out of my metal diet almost completely.

It has been a long time since I last played "XIII" but hearing it for the first time in many years I am reminded of why it had a particular appeal to me in the first place. It kicks off strongly with the ascerbic-sounding "Kill Tomorrow" complete with its hardcore-derived vocals hitting hard from the off, threatening to rip the listener's head clean off. "Sun Doesn't Rise" buys more into the rap side of nu-metal, but it has that ominous atmosphere to it that initially drew me to the album way back when. This dark cloud of ominous uncertainty sets this album apart from the "Iowa"s and "Follow the Leader"s of the time and is much more in keeping with the kind of doom aesthetic that appeals to me most. Alongside this there is often a mechanical throb to the riffs ("Mother Machine Gun" and "The Dream Is Over" for example) a la Fear Factory that gives Mushroomhead's version of nu-metal an industrial feeling at times and which positions them as close to FF as Korn.

The band sound incredibly tight with chunky riffs and a throbbing bassline, although the drums sound a little thinner than I would have liked, particularly the snare which, whilst it is no St Anger, is still a little tinny. The dual vocals contrasts hardcore punk raging with a strong, and faintly bluesy clean style for a quite striking effect. They also had an uncanny ear for a catchy melody with "Nowhere to Go" surprisingly never released as a single, despite sounding more radio-friendly than the album's only actual single "Sun Doesn't Rise" and making me feel like I should be waving a Zippo lighter in the air whilst "Almost Gone" is such a groovy mutha that it may well make even a grumpy old metalhead like me want to start dancing! Obviously such a long album would be much better if it had finished after the 8-minute "Destroy the World Around Me", foregoing the inconsequential "Thirteen" which is quite annoying, particularly with the old 'scratchy needle' sound effect, and the cover of Seal's "Crazy" which feels out of place with the rest of the material here.

The last few minutes aside, listening to this now, over two decades after its release, it feels like it has aged incredibly well, unlike so many of its contemporries from the nu-metal scene and still sounds fresh and exhilharating. Thanks for putting this forward as a feature, Saxy, and allowing me to reconnect with an old friend that I haven't entertained in quite a while and who is actually better company than I remember them being.