Skinny Puppy
The Greater Wrong of the Right (SPV)
It’s hardly worth mentioning that electronic/industrial music fans the world over have nothing but disdain in their hearts for the day that Skinny Puppy first went away. It’s also hardly worth mentioning that The Greater Wrong of the Right has GOT to be the most highly anticipated album of the year. Well, the most anticipated album for those mislaid souls who have floundered for 8 miserable years in a sea of second-rate industrial records that seem to assure us that they are the “next thing” but seldom if ever deliver. In all actuality it’s difficult to understand just how the hell this genre has even sustained itself as long as it has without a flagship. So, where does one begin to describe a new Puppy record? What gives me or anyone else the right to judge the latest output of the seminal Skinny Puppy? Who even has the ability to absorb all that Puppy has to offer? I can’t answer any of that; just know that your flagship is back. The dark brooding beacon that is Skinny Puppy has finally returned to show the world just exactly how electronic/industrial music is supposed to be.
The Greater Wrong of the Right is 48 minutes of SP’s strengths and none of its weaknesses. cEvin Key and Ogre have allowed Mark Walk to step into the late Dwayne Goettels’ position, so it should come as no surprise that a couple of these tracks, most notably I’mmortal and Pro-test, sound somewhat in the vein of the ohGr project. Around track 4 the album takes a turn and spins irretrievably down into the atypical world of Skinny Puppy. Neuwerld, Ghostman, d0wnsizer and Goneja all harbor the nuances that have made SP the toughest act in the genre to follow. For the DJs we have track 7, Past Present, the token dance number that clocks in at nearly 7 minutes. Slap this baby on and watch the lil’ gothies stomp and swirl about. There is not one dire moment on this album, which is to say that it is Puppy’s most user-friendly release, even more so than The Process. This new direction may put off some older fans of the noisier days but if I were to pick on any one thing it would be the cold digital feel of the production. Dave Ogilvie was not at the helm this time around and the analog warmth of previous Puppy records is markedly absent; but otherwise…
In closing I’d like to mention that this material in the hands of a lesser band would simply be unlistenable. Skinny Puppy has and always will be a musical anomaly that should never be copied. To be influenced by them is one thing but to attempt emulating them is outright silly. You can’t win. The battle is lost before it begins. Skinny Puppy wrote the book on this stuff and The Greater Wrong of the Right is the latest entry in a trip I hope will never end. - C. Curry
Posted by MK Magazine