Pitchshifter: www.pitchshifter.com Review

I was shocked when I first discovered the Metal Archives. I was amazed first of all at the number of bands present and the size of the site. Then when I set up an account and started forming my collection, I was surprised that many of the bands I listened to where not present. Bands like Static X, Godsmack, Slipknot. Later I began thinking logically about these bands and listening to them next to real metal bands and realizing why they were not there. The real one that threw me then was Pitchshifter’s presence instead of absence.

I first heard Pitchshifter back when I listened to nu metal. They released this album to capitalize on the popular genre at this time. They even showed up live on some MTV special with Limp Bizkit before they even hit it really big. This music definitely fit in with that genre. And it’s also terrible.

Pitchshifter was once a mighty industrial-metal juggernaut on their earliest albums. They played a style similar to Ministry and Godflesh and are considered one of the first industrial metal bands. Their music was dark and intense. I really do not know what happened, although I suspect that it had more to do with a cash grab than anything. This is their first major label release and was their first release completing dropping the metal from their sound.

The music is very heavy on the samples and still maintains some form of industrial/techno-type influences, but these influences are melded with music more similar in style to Deftones, Spineshank, and Systematic than the early Godflesh style. The music is driven by electronic drum beats and a throbbing bass pulse. There’s just not much going on musically during most of the song. Guitar “riffs”, such as they are, kick in typically only on the choruses and are there to provide an influx of noise and aggression.

The vocals are clean, for the most part, except for the occasional angry scream during choruses. The vocals are nasally and delivered with a sarcastic snarl that gets a little grating on the ears after awhile.

The songs are all somewhat short, mercifully, but unfortunately there is a lot of them making the album fairly long. There really is nothing going on musically throughout most of the individual songs with only bass, drums, and vocals going except for the choruses. Some of the songs are a little catchy and their inclusion into soundtracks for video games does seem appropriate, but as a whole, the album is hard to listen to unless one is really into this form of music.

The last track is particularly annoying. It consists of all of the samples the band used on the album played individually. I understand that the idea was to provide free samples for use by anyone else, but it’s annoying. I recommend skipping it.

This album may be a good industrial rock album, but I am not in a position to judge their quality from that standpoint. Even at the time that I enjoyed nu metal, I did not like this album. It just does not have much going for it from a musical standpoint.

I no longer question Pitchshifter’s presence on the site, having heard their earlier material, but this is not a good representation of their sound and certainly does not reflect their status as a metal band. This is horrible nu metal produced at a time that the genre was popular. Apparently this is the style the band ended up adopting and quit playing their old industrial metal material live. It’s a shame when bands turn their backs on the genre, but it happens.