What the hell is going on with the cover art for Bad News by Ligeia? Scantily clad lady-of-the-night, blocky fonts strobing vertically… it looks like some justifiably-forgotten eighties hair metal album. Maybe there’s some ironic message I’m missing here, some retro reference that has passed me by, but I can’t see that selling to the usual Ferret Music demographic.
The good news is that Bad News isn’t a bad hair metal album. The bad news is that Ligeia play some bastard hybrid of metalcore and nu-metal which - while vaguely preferable to spandex sleaze - seems to hinge entirely on lyrics that catalogue the band’s recent hard times and excess without saying anything interesting about them whatsoever.
There’s a certain moody exuberance to Ligeia’s music, especially in the rhythm section which shifts neatly between metalcore beatdowns and faster sections, followed closely by big open chords that sound like Isis doing post-hardcore covers. There’s very little in the way of lead guitar, though, and Bad News doesn’t deviate from its formula much; the one stand-out track is “Heroin Diaries”, a downbeat acoustic guitar number that also sees vocalist Keith Holuk taking one rare step outside of his own personal experience for inspiration.
Holuk’s vocals are probably the most remarkable part of the Ligeia experience; when he’s not doing the shouty metalcore thing, his singing voice is strangely reminiscent of Chino Moreno, and it’s a pleasant change to hear someone singing with some character in a lower register. Sadly, Bad News possesses none of the darkly abstract poetics of Deftones material, tending more toward the “stuff sucks, get wasted, break things” narratives of the rap-metal also-rans - a comparison amplified by the unimaginative and unnecessary addition of some turntable scratching on “I’ve Been Drinkin”.
Most disappointing of all is the undercurrent of misogyny that runs all through Bad News. “You’re so glamorous, you’re so scandalous,” sings Holuk in “One Night Stand”, a classic “I scored with some fine chick because I’m the rock star” story whose theme is repeated in “Bombshell”. So maybe that cock-rock cover art isn’t so inappropriate after all… but in case you were thinking that Ligeia are appreciative of women who give up the goods, album closer “Hoodrat” unleashes the sort of crass gender-hatred that I usually associate with gangster rap: “nobody cares, you’re always sleeping around… bitch, you’re a whore”. The moral of the story? It’s only OK to be a slut if Holuk wants to take you back to the tour bus.
Bad News is nondescript at best, blurring the edges of metalcore without truly crossing any boundaries. Indeed, the only remarkable thing about Ligeia’s material is the narcissism and hypocrisy that runs all the way through it, and frankly I’m disappointed in Ferret Music for putting out an album that peddles such blatant unreconstructed sexism. Bad News is best avoided, if only on principle.
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Posted in Music reviews |
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:30 pm
whine cry, hoodrat is an amazing song.
bad news is an overall good CD cant decide if its better then “Your gift is a ghost”
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
If you’ve ever seen Keith at a show, you’d know that he wouldn’t take a slut back to the bus, they don’t even travel in a bus. Keith ignores slutty bitches at shows.
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I have no idea how Holuk behaves at shows, and it’s none of my business (unless I’m sent to review one, of course). The point I was making is that his lyrics clearly objectify women as sex objects and little else; this is seen as a positive characteristic when he likes them, and negative when he doesn’t. That may not bother him or you, but it bothers me.
August 4th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Gd dmn ht y.
August 4th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Don’t listen to these dipshits. This CD is awful and the gender politics displayed by this band need to be swept away by a Nor’easter.
August 6th, 2008 at 5:42 am
This is the most rediculous thing I’ve ever read , there lyrics who are you to judge them on words? There songs… there doing what they do to sell there album. There so hateful towards women yet everytime I’ve hung out with them they’ve done nothing but be respectful to me and any female in there presence.
Thats all ..
Oh p.s if your gonna judge the lyrics get em right.. ” bitch yous a ho”
August 6th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Who am I to judge them on their lyrics? A person with ears, that’s who. If they don’t want to be judged on lyrical content, they should write instrumentals.
And sorry about getting the lyrics wrong - I was assuming that the band weren’t as functionally illiterate as their fanbase seem to be. My bad.
August 6th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
This Cd was signed and given to me by the band. My daughter and I met them in my hood, they were the coolest guys to me. I absolutely LOVE the Cd, it is a great change for them. I like the upbeat “Teenage Wasteland” Not a Who cover, way better!!! Great Cd fellas, come back to Dirty Jersey soon. Amazing! I hope they bring my band “Ashes of your Enemy” on tour with them! By the way that was a cheap attemp at a plug. Anyway great job on the new cd!
August 7th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Yo, “The Editor.”
You’re kind of a dipshit. Anyone ever mention…? Sure they have.
I’ll admit, this is no Rareform by After The Burial, but for Christ’s sake your critique on this album is horrendously ignorant, and ill inspired.
Do us a favor; Discontinue your music review acclaim and get back to your iPod player that has your panic @ the disco on repeat.
Thanx bra!!
August 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Thanks for the personal insults, Prreeg. If you’d care to point out *why* my review is so ignorant and ill-informed, maybe my reviewing would improve, hmmm? But that might involve you having to actually, you know, refute the points I made, and it’s a lot easier to just anonymously insult me, isn’t it? Dipshit is as dipshit does, I guess.
August 11th, 2008 at 4:03 am
I think your opinion about a hardcore band’s lyrics being too sexist or hypocritical is pretty ridiculous. I have been out to many shows and many places and there are girls exactly like the lyrics they have in their songs. Why not talk about it without caring what reviewers say? Maybe you are disappointed that Ligeia is taking a different route in their style than you expected or hoped. I think the melodic parts and the catchy parts are genius. It is something hardcore was in need of without going totally soft. I listen to this album at least once a day. Seems like unless its brutal or completely soft, basically expected.. then it’s terrible. Get real.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:29 am
This album is awesome. Buy it and support this band they are great guys. By the way everyone remembers the skank who trys to be cool and sleeps with everyone as referred to in hoodrat. I wont insult you on your review though but i will say it is a bit extreme but still a matter of opinion.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Justin and Jay, thanks for actually taking the time to engage with my review rather than throw rocks at me.
Justin: musically I thought there were some interesting points, and as I mentioned, Holuk’s voice is actually quite a refreshing change from the norm. The scratching was a dreadful choice, though. Totally unnecessary, adds nothing to the track. I had no advance expectations of Ligeia at all, as this is the first album of theirs I’ve heard; I make a point of treating albums on their own merits, and I’m not interested in what’s trendy or sells well (as reading some of my other reviews here should make clear). And sure, they have a right to write about whatever the hell they want to; it’s called freedom of speech. I have the same freedom to say that I don’t approve of it. You don’t have to agree with me on that if you choose not to.
Jay: the issue I have with the depiction of the girl in “Hoodrat” is that it doesn’t question why she may be that way. Some of the other songs on the album suggest that it’s OK for guys to sleep with lots of different people if they want to; why is there a different standard for girls? And why, when Holuk manages to portray the heroin addicts as victims in “Heroin Diaries”, can he not extend the same thinking to the girl from “Hoodrat” and treat her as a human being with bad motivations, instead of simply labelling her a whore? It’s not Holuk’s opinion of the girl I’m so bothered by (though I still find the language unnecessarily misogynistic), but it’s the double standards in his songwriting. Practice what you preach, y’know? Put it this way - would you want someone calling your sister a whore? Because that girl is someone’s sister, or daughter; calling her a whore dehumanises her, makes her into a two-dimensional object of hatred.
Anyway, thanks for the well thought out comments, guys.
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:29 pm
This CD fucking blows.