''Lost and Found'' is the third studio album by American
heavy metal band
Mudvayne
Mudvayne is an American heavy metal band formed in Peoria, Illinois in 1996. Known for their sonic experimentation, face and body paint, masks and uniforms, the band has sold over six million records worldwide, including nearly three millio ...
. The album was released on April 12, 2005. The album had major success in the U.S., debuting at number 2
and being
certified gold
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
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 ...
shortly afterward. It has sold about 1,000,000 copies as of August 2014 and is the band's most successful album to date.
Production
After opening for
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/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 ...
on the band's Summer Sanitarium tour in 2003,
Mudvayne spent the holidays recuperating before starting work on the album.
The album was produced by
Dave Fortman
Dave Fortman (born July 11, 1967) is an American record producer and musician. He is the guitarist for rock band Ugly Kid Joe, and has worked with bands such as Superjoint Ritual, Snot, Atomship, Eyehategod, Mudvayne, Otep, Slipknot (on the ...
.
The band chose Fortman because they felt he could combine the band's extreme elements.
Before heading to
The Plant Studios
The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blo ...
in
Sausalito, California
Sausalito (Spanish language, Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, California, Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, California ...
to record the album, the band spent time with Fortman in pre-production. Vocalist Chad Gray said "I've found that those first few days are the most important when it comes to setting the album's tone and challenging the band about their goals and fine-tuning the arrangements for maximum emotional impact."
The band rented a ranch in
Northern California
Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
where they wrote and rehearsed songs for the album.
They converted its multi-stall garage into a makeshift studio.
As with the band's previous album, Mudvayne chose to isolate themselves to provide inspiration for their songwriting.
[ ]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 ...
stated "Establishing clear goals for each song has been the key to Mudvayne's quick results. It's a strange contradiction, but it can be very liberating to set limitations on creativity as long as you don't let those limitations define you. It frees up a lot of creative energy when you stop pulling an idea in fifty different directions and start pushing it in one."
By May 27, 2004, the band had finished writing 12 songs for the album. Chad, Ryan, Greg and Matthew left the ranch in Santa Cruz and went back to their respective homes in California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
and Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
. On June 12, 2004, the band reconvened to commence recording the album.
The song "Small Silhouette" was recorded during the ''Lost and Found'' sessions, with it later appearing on the soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...
to the Showtime series ''Masters of Horror
''Masters of Horror'' is an anthology television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.
Origin
In 2002, director Mick Garris invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in Sherman Oaks, ...
''.
Music and lyrics
''Lost and Found'' was described as a hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
album by ''Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
''. It includes elements of thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...
. The song " Determined" (originally titled "Fucking Determined") utilizes elements of modern thrash and hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...
, while the song "IMN"'s lyrics revolve around suicide, a recurring theme in Mudvayne's songs. The track "Choices" was described by Gray as "the eight-minute opus". It is to date the longest Mudvayne song.
The band sees the album as a return to the raw sound heard on '' L.D. 50'', with guitarist Greg Tribbett
Gregory Arnold Tribbett Jr. (born November 7, 1968) is an American guitarist who is one of the founding members, lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the metal band Mudvayne. He is also the former lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the met ...
saying in an interview with ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine "Instead of being all slick, we're definitely going for a raw sound on this record. The last one was pretty smooth and the first record, ''L.D. 50'', was raw, so we're kind of mixing it up a little bit." Matthew McDonough said he believed the music on the album would reflect a refinement of Mudvayne's complexly structured hard rock balanced against more melody than any previous album. Bassist Ryan Martinie
Ryan Martinie (born August 6, 1975) is an American musician, best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Mudvayne.
Early life
Ryan Martinie was born on August 6, 1975, in Peoria, Illinois.
Career Mudvayne
In 1996, Mudvayne was formed. The ...
added, "Our goal for the third album is to make music that pleases us because if it makes us happy then the rest will take care of itself."
Many critics have claimed the album abandoned the sound from their previous albums.
Promotion
Music videos were made for all four singles: " Determined", " Happy?", "Forget to Remember
''"Forget to Remember"'' is a song by American heavy metal band Mudvayne and the third single from their 2005 album ''Lost and Found''. The song was featured in the film ''Saw II'', which helped gain the band considerable mainstream popularity. I ...
" and "Fall into Sleep
"Fall into Sleep" is a song by American metal band Mudvayne and the fourth and final single from their 2005 album ''Lost and Found''.
Music video
A video was made for the song. It is unique for being the first use of animation in a Mudvayne video ...
". The music video for "Determined" shows the band playing the song in front of a large group of moshing
Moshing (also known as slam dancing or simply slamming) is an extreme style of dancing in which participants push or slam into each other, typically performed to "aggressive" live music such as heavy metal and punk rock. Moshing usually happen ...
fans. It was recorded in New York City. "Determined" was featured on the soundtrack of the video game '' Need for Speed: Underground 2'' while "Happy?" appeared in the video game ''MX vs. ATV Untamed
''MX vs. ATV Untamed'' is an offroad racing game developed by Rainbow Studios, Tantalus Media, Incinerator Studios and published by THQ for the PlayStation 2 and all seventh-generation platforms, becoming the last ''MX vs. ATV'' game to releas ...
'' and was also used as the theme song for WWE's Vengeance.
Reception
The album sold 100,000 copies in its first week of release.
Upon release, the album received generally mixed reviews, with Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
giving it a score of 46%.[ Some critics noted a perceived change in sound on the album aimed towards a more mainstream audience. The ''Kansas Wichita Eagle'' observed, "Success wasn't something the members of Mudvayne set out to achieve, but they won't spurn it. Since the quartet's arrival on the heavy metal scene in 1996, it has progressed from the fringes to the rock mainstream."
A positive review appeared in '']Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'', which wrote, "Weaving crystallized melodies into their signature rage clusters, the metalheads dip a toe in clearer waters without losing any of the grime."[
Johnny Loftus of ]AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
praised the opening track, "Determined", writing in his review, "They nail it on opener "Determined"—one of Mudvayne's all-time strongest tracks, it's a fist-swinging blast of modernized thrash." However, he gave the album a mixed review, writing, "''Lost and Found'' soon falls into the familiar, busting no-one-understands-me lyrics and matching moments of refreshing rawness to stretches of stereotypical 'corporate metal,' a non-genre that's risen up to accept loud rock refugees and the harder side of post-grunge
Post-grunge is a derivative of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s rock bands such as Bush (British band), Bush, Candlebox and Collective So ...
. The energy in 'Determined' and 'Just' is sapped by the meandering 'TV Radio' and 'Fall into Sleep,' and ultimately Mudvayne gets lost between thrash and diluted Slipknot devotion."
Mixed reviews also appeared in '' Q'', which said, " udvayneremain spirit-crushingly average", ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', which called the album "Syncopated sludge
Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventional ...
that will connect only with aging burnouts and the angriest of young 'uns"[ and '' Billboard'', which wrote, "The album is, while not terrible, not very memorable, either."][
'']PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' gave the album a negative review, writing, "''Lost and Found'' is ultimately a pointless album, one that might have sold well six years ago, but comes across as drab and hopelessly passé today."
The song "Determined" was nominated at the 2006 Grammy Awards
The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning from October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005. Irish rock band U2 were ...
for Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...
but lost to Slipknot's " Before I Forget".
Impact
Demo versions of "Fall into Sleep", "Happy?" and "All That You Are", and an acoustic version of "Forget to Remember" appeared on the 2007 compilation '' By the People, for the People'', which was compiled from selections voted for by fans through the band's website. The album versions of "Determined", "Fall into Sleep" and "Happy?" appeared on the compilation ''Playlist: The Very Best of Mudvayne'' in 2011.
Track listing
;Japanese edition bonus track
Personnel
;Mudvayne
* 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 Mudv ...
– lead vocals
* Greg Tribbett
Gregory Arnold Tribbett Jr. (born November 7, 1968) is an American guitarist who is one of the founding members, lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the metal band Mudvayne. He is also the former lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the met ...
– guitars, backing vocals
* Ryan Martinie
Ryan Martinie (born August 6, 1975) is an American musician, best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Mudvayne.
Early life
Ryan Martinie was born on August 6, 1975, in Peoria, Illinois.
Career Mudvayne
In 1996, Mudvayne was formed. The ...
– bass
* 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 ...
– drums
;Additional personnel
* Dave Fortman
Dave Fortman (born July 11, 1967) is an American record producer and musician. He is the guitarist for rock band Ugly Kid Joe, and has worked with bands such as Superjoint Ritual, Snot, Atomship, Eyehategod, Mudvayne, Otep, Slipknot (on the ...
– recording, production, audio mixing
* Jeremy Parker – audio mixing
* Mike Boden – assistant engineer
* Mauricio Serna – assistant engineer
* Kelly Liebelt – assistant engineer
* Tony Terrebonne – assistant engineer
* Ted Jensen
Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''.
Biography
Ted ...
– mastering at Sterling Sound, New York City
* Devun Fortman – additional vocals on "Choices"
* Erinn Fortman – additional vocals on "Choices"
* Leah Germinaro – additional vocals on "Choices"
Chart positions
;Singles
Certifications
References
External links
RollingStone.com: News - Mudvayne - Mudvayne Unmask on "Lost"
{{Authority control
2005 albums
Albums produced by Dave Fortman
Mudvayne albums