The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.
Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.
Feet?
Given how hard Chevelle burst onto the scene with their second album, going back to Point #1 is interesting. Being a young rock band in the 90s from Chicago, it seems inevitable they would've worked with the one and only Steve Albini, but whereas Steve's hard-edged organic recording methods normally make a band's music slam harder, in Chevelle's case, it actually dulls their approach a little. These guys are still very tight players, and it brings The Rock, sure, but without the extreme downtunings and textures found on Wonder What's Next, Point #1 feels more like a nicely recorded demo tape, half really good song ideas and half unmemorable rhythmically-tricky riffage.
No better does the album's excesses appear than on the first track, "Open". Being little more than an exercise in one-chord Helmet-like dynamics, it's barely an opening to "Point #1", let alone the album. Repeated listens do reveal some excellent songs among the noise though. Pete Loeffler's powerful, long screams are perfectly placed atop the climaxes of the title track, "Mia", and "Dos", while "Anticipation" is the one time the Helmet-isms land to satisfyingly pummeling effect. "Peer" proves an especially excellent closer, as the darkly melodic, gently sung first half collides headfirst with a semi in the antisocial second half. Chevelle's trademark angular emotive metal was here from the start--they'd just yet to crank it or pair it with a worthy set of songs.
| Essential: | Quintessential: | Non-Essential: | Rating: |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Mia", "Dos", "Peer" | "Long" | "Open" |  |
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