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Everyone's favorite industrial metalman is back. After months of delays, Klank's second album is now available. Produced, recorded, and released independently, this album is definitive. Whereas Klank's debut on Tooth & Nail was more of a metal album with some industrial influences sans Klay Scott, Numb is the whole animal: heavy guitar grooves, pulsating electronics, danceable beats and loads of the classic Klank angst make for a potent guitar-based industrial formula. Klank's move to DIY has brought a much needed balance to his songs. Whereas the songs from Still Suffering all tried to be harder than the last one, the songs on Numb are more diverse. Songs such as "God?" and "So Very Real" have a bit of a softer edge, while songs such as "Bleed Me Dry," "Don't Like," and "Blind" maintain the jackhammer riffs. The "Ghetto Dance Mix," with its blasting beat and lilting layers of electronics, could easily become a dance floor hit, further showcasing Klank's wide-ranging abilities. Darren Klank's vocals have also improved markedly from his last effort. The metal growl has been augmented with solid clean vocals, though at times the growling comes back on blistering songs like "Don't Like." (Perhaps the best way to notice the improvement in vocals is to listen to the death metal mix of Klank's first song, "Animosity 94 (Demo)," which is included at the end of the album.) There's also a roughly produced, metal-based, hidden track worth a listen as well. Klank has long been the subject of much debate and controversy due to his struggles with Christianity and God. This was noticeable lyrically both on the last album, and again on this one. The line from the song "No Answers/No Reasons" will probably give Christian music and bookstores fits over whether or not to stock this CD: Why
bother speaking when nobody gives a damn,
But the song has a deeper issue: the fact that artists in the Christian scene are constantly asked questions concerning their personal spiritual lives. Klank's response is evidenced by the chorus: You
want to know what I would do,
Klank's struggle to accept God as personal to him is explored by the aptly titled "God?:" I wonder
if you do exist, and what you mean to me.
The song "So Very Real" finds Klank enjoying a small measure of peace as he sings about someone who gives him physical comfort: When
I'm at my weakest you make me strong
The wait has been long, but worthwhile. Despite the vocals being placed in the mix a little low on some songs, the production is thick when called for; sharp and clean when it has to be. Klank has delivered an excellent album, full of heavy riffs and heavier questions. While sure to brew up more controversy, don't let the poor opinions of others persuade you. A release this good is a must have. Joe Rockstroh (8/8/99)
Klank's new album, Numb, is a rarity in the music world--it's an album whose B-side is actually superior to its A-side. That's not really all that difficult a task--Numb's first seven songs are completely uninspiring and boring, with a false rage that wears thin very quickly. It's also mixed poorly, with the drums being far too loud and everything else sounding as if it was recorded through a wall. Worse yet, lead singer Daren Diolosa's voice has an obnoxious, whiny punk sound to it, which sounds very out-of-place in the industrial music the band plays. The title track, which could have made a fairly decent rapcore song, especially suffers from this. The songwriting is also sub-par. Klank's major lyrical problem is that they can't decided whether they want to write clichéd Christian lyrics or clichéd anti-Christian lyrics. Diolosa bellows "You're the only reason I press on" in "So Very Real" and roars "Sometimes I think You hate me" in "God?," but the listener gets the feeling that both of these statements are half-hearted, that he doesn't mean either of them. Still, fundamentalists will most likely be greatly offended by some of the band's lyrics, most notably their use of the "d word" in "No Answers/No Reasons." Besides the lack of sincerity, Numb's lyrics are extraordinarily trite, on the level of the worst of CCM artists: Gotta
drill it in your mind
You want
to know what I would do
I found only two songs on the album to be listenable at all: the punk/industrial "Penetrate" is rather catchy, and actually benefited from the nasal voice Diolosa uses on its chorus; and "Bleed Me Dry," an angry rapcore track, works very well also. In the end, better production and mixing could have made Numb easier to listen to, but truthfully, Klank can't become a truly great (or even good) band until the banality of their lyrics is removed. Michial Farmer 2/20/2000
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