End of All Things to Come

Mudvayne: Chud (vocals); Guug (guitar); Ru-D (bass); Spug (drums).
Recorded at Pachyderm Studio, Cannon Falls, Minnesota.
When Mudvayne's major-label debut appeared, many critics either lumped the band into the same rap-metal bag as Korn and Limp Bizkit, or merely dismissed the combo as a Slipknot rip-off. On THE END OF ALL THINGS TO COME, the group transcends the comparisons and wacky makeup to deliver a ferocious slab of the hard stuff that, for once, truly deserves to be termed "alternative." Equal parts Morbid Angel, Rush, and Shudder To Think, the disc highlights Mudvayne's ability to temper nu-metal's characteristic machine-gun riffing and throat-shredding vocals with a variety of quirky textural shifts and (gasp!) melodic vocalizing. Lyrically, the group mines the same nihilist/anarchistic territory popularized by Metallica and scores of '80s hardcore punk groups. Luckily, however, Mudvayne avoids the I-wanna-blow-up-the-world-'cause-my-mom -told-me-to-take-out-the-trash syndrome and manages to come up with several interesting and genuinely chilling variations on the theme.