Anger Denial Acceptance

Personnel: Johnny Santos, Rob Garcia (vocals); Mike Sarkisyan (guitar, piano, programming); Tommy Decker (drums, programming).
Audio Mixer: Mike Plotnikoff.
Recording information: Cyanide Studios; Kingston Lane Studios; Mid City Sound; Optimum Sound; YMA Studios.
Photographer: Kevin Estrada.
To most outward appearances, Spineshank ceased to be a band for nearly a decade between the 2004 departure of vocalist Johnny Santos and the release of this, the L.A. nu-metallers' fourth studio album, and first for new label Century Media. Yet the remaining musicians, guitarist Mike Sarkisyan, bassist Robert Garcia, and drummer Tom Decker, actually spent many of those "quiet" years jamming with a replacement singer, then lured Santos back in 2008 and began working on new songs for this admittedly low-key comeback. Just what sort of recall the Spineshank brand will still possess in light of all this time away from the spotlight is anyone's guess, but give the quartet credit for sticking fast to their original style rather than trying to be cute and fit in with new trends; the album's tongue-in-cheek title, Anger Denial Acceptance, is as cute as they get. Beyond that, the disc is pretty much packed with business as usual, latter-day ghosts of nu-metal past, including the violently destructive "After the End" and "The Endless Disconnect" (think Slipknot Jr.), the moody, techno-enhanced "Ploratio Morbus" and "Motive Method Opportunity" (both nods to oldest influence Fear Factory), and numerous reminders of the Jonathan Davis/Chino Moreno-patented moan in "I Am Damage," "Everything Everyone Everywhere Ends," etc. Obviously, the lack of a strong personal identity always was and remains a hindrance for Spineshank, but there's still something to be said for a few unusually crisp compositions laden with hooks named "Nothing Left for Me" and "The Reckoning," which epitomize the truly pop-oriented side of nu-metal, if you will. And whatever barbs critics may fire at them, don't count out the longterm memory of nearly the half-million nostalgic consumers who shelled out for Spineshank CDs in years past; if even a portion of those fans turn out to pick up this disc, they would guarantee a very respectable comeback for the band. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia