''The End of All Things to Come'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal band

Mudvayne Mudvayne is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Peoria, Illinois, Peoria, Illinois, in 1996. Known for their sonic experimentation, face and body paint, masks and uniforms, the band has sold over five million records wor ...

. Released on November 19, 2002, the album expanded upon the sound of the band's first album, '' L.D. 50'', with a more versatile range of sounds, dynamic, moods and vocalization. The band wrote the album's songs in less than a month, drawing inspiration from their self-imposed isolation during the songwriting process, and crafted a more mature sound which drew from

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

influences, as well as elements of

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

and

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

. The album's strong sales led to it being certified Gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in 2003.

Production

The album was recorded at Pachyderm Studios in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

during 2002 with the producer David Bottrill, who had previously produced albums for groups such as

Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

and

Silverchair Silverchair was an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, Ben Gillies on drums, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

. The band had very little time to make the album, in contrast to the recording of the previous album, '' L.D. 50''. The drummer,

Matthew McDonough Matthew McDonough (born March 12, 1969) is an American drummer best known as a member of the heavy metal band Mudvayne. He is the band's original drummer and has appeared and performed on every release by Mudvayne. He was also the original dr ...

, said, "We had all the time in the world to write our first album, but for the second one, we had about a month. I'm amazed how quickly we came up with the material." Vocalist

Chad Gray Chad Gray (born October 16, 1971) is an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist of heavy metal bands Mudvayne and Hellyeah. Career Mudvayne Gray quit his factory job that paid $40,000 a year to move to Peoria, Illinois and formed Mud ...

said, "The making of ''The End of All Things to Come'' was an exercise in deadline management for the band. Since we were on the road for such a long period and didn't want to wait any longer than two years between albums, we didn't have a lot of time to create this record. We wrote and rehearsed for four months and then spent another four months to record and master the entire album. The pressure made us focus instead of fold." With the creation of the album's artwork, Mudvayne hoped to create the band's " black album".

Musical style

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

said ''The End of All Things to Come'' derives influence from several styles, including

jazz metal Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

and harmony-filled

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

. ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' described the album sound as "standard-issue heavy metal thrash" similar to that of

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

. ''MTV'' compared the album's style to groups such as

King's X King's X is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Springfield, Missouri, in 1979. They were first called the Edge and later became Sneak Preview before settling on its current name in 1985. The band's current lineup has remained intact fo ...

Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...

and

, referring to the music as "multi-textured metal loaded with prog-rock shifts" During the album's songwriting process, the band intentionally isolated themselves for inspiration. The album expanded upon the sound of ''L.D. 50'' with a wider range of

riffs A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...

, tempos, moods and vocalization. Matt McDonough described the songs on the album as "even weirder" than those on ''L.D. 50'', and also believes the album is more mature. The song "Trapped in the Wake of a Dream" has choruses written in , verses in and a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

that mixes both

time signatures A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

. McDonough said "If I hadn't pointed out which song was written in I don't think most people would have noticed. It's a strange time signature but it works because it's smooth", while Gray added that it was the hardest song on the album to record.

Reception

''The End of All Things to Come'' was certified Gold by the

in 2003. Positive reviews came from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', which deemed it to be more "user-friendly" than ''L.D. 50'', Launch.com, which said that "While the group attacks things with great velocity and singer Chad shreds his larynx at regular intervals, the always difficult follow-up album features actual melodies and mature textures that make the band's eventual transformation into a

band nearly inevitable" and ''

'', which described the album as "a scarring blend of

, Voivod (band), Voivod and

, with a smattering of

". ''The Daily News Journal'' also gave the album a positive review, writing, "The End of All Things to Come captures Mudvayne at a time when the band has found its voice and is hitting its stride with confidence." Mixed reviews came from ''

'', which wrote, "The musicians still churn out standard-issue heavy metal Thrash metal, thrash à la

to support Chad's nihilistic pronouncements, usually sung in an enraged howl," from ''Blender (magazine), Blender'', which wrote, "The End is rather ordinary--severe, belligerent riffs and vocals that sound as though singer Chad gargles molten lava," and ''Rolling Stone (magazine), Rolling Stone'', which wrote, "Enjoy the band's extraterrestrial makeover; it's far more amusing than the music." A negative review appeared in ''Spin (magazine), Spin'', simply stating, "No."

Track listing

Personnel

Mudvayne *

– lead vocals * Greg Tribbett – guitars, backing vocals * Ryan Martinie – bass *

– drums Production * David Bottrill – production, engineer, mixing, mastering * Brent Sigmeth – assistant engineer * Aimee Macauley – art direction * Nitin Vadukul – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:End of All Things to Come, The 2002 albums Mudvayne albums Albums produced by David Bottrill Epic Records albums Thrash metal albums by American artists