''Weapon'' is the twelfth studio album by Canadian
electro-industrial
Electro-industrial is a music genre that emerged from industrial music in the early 1980s. While EBM (electronic body music) has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial tends to have a grittier, complex and layered sound wi ...
band
Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group is among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton ...
. It was released on May 28, 2013, through
Metropolis Records
Metropolis Records is a record label founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1993 by the late Dave Heckman. The label's all-electronic format closely tracked with European contemporaries, such as Off Beat, and, since 1995, has been instrumenta ...
. Skinny Puppy received mainstream media attention when the band billed the U.S. government for using its music as torture in the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...
, which was a primary source of inspiration for the album. Musically, ''Weapon's'' sound is reminiscent of Skinny Puppy's earliest releases, ''
Remission'' (1984) and ''
Bites
Biting is a common zoological behavior involving the active, rapid closing of the jaw around an object. This behavior is found in toothed animals such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, but can also exist in arthropods. Myocytic contrac ...
'' (1985), due to the employment of old
equipment
Equipment most commonly refers to a set of tools or other objects commonly used to achieve a particular objective. Different job
Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and ...
and simplified songwriting.
The song "Salvo" was released early for streaming on May 14, 2013, a music video for the song "Illisit" was directed by Jason Alacrity and released online, and the album was followed by several tours.
Background and concept
''Weapon'' was inspired by the news that Skinny Puppy's music had been used for torture sessions at the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...
.
In 2011, the band was approached by a Guantanamo prison guard who heard
bootlegged Skinny Puppy music being played to prisoners at
damaging volumes for six to twelve hours as a punishment.
The guard,
Terry Holdbrooks, recognized the music as coming from an unofficial 1993 release called ''Heavens Trash''.
This revelation prompted the band to develop the concept of ''Weapon'', even going so far as originally planning to include an instructional manual detailing how to use the album to torture people.
In early 2014, a few months following the album's release, Skinny Puppy received mainstream media attention after sending an invoice totaling $
666
666 may refer to:
* 666 (number)
* 666 BC, a year
* AD 666, a year
* The number of the beast, a reference in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament
Places
* 666 Desdemona, a minor planet in the asteroid belt
* U.S. Route 666, an America ...
,000 to the
US Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
for the use of its music during torture sessions.
The Department of Defense never responded to the invoice, and governmental officials denied using any music as torture.
Regarding the employment of his music in such a capacity, founding Skinny Puppy member
cEvin Key
Kevin William Crompton (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as cEvin Key, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, producer, and composer. He is best known as a member of the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded in 1982 ...
criticized the government both for using the music without permission and for using it as "an actual weapon against somebody".
He clarified that the billing was not for financial gain, but was to make a point.
Other influences on ''Weapon's'' sound include the 2011
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...
and American
gun culture
Gun culture refers to the attitudes, feelings, values and behaviour of a society, or any social group, in which guns are used. The term was first coined by Richard Hofstadter in an '' American Heritage'' article critiquing gun violence in the Unite ...
.
Regarding the refinement of the album's concept, vocalist
Nivek Ogre
Kevin Graham Ogilvie (born December 5, 1962), known professionally as Nivek Ogre, is a Canadian musician, performance artist and actor, best known for his work with the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded with cEvin Key. Sinc ...
said:
The album's artwork features a giant mechanized spider made of various weapons ranging from blades to firearms. It was created by longtime Skinny Puppy collaborator
Steven R. Gilmore
Steven R. Gilmore is a Canadian artist and graphic designer most known for his work on album cover design, particularly his role as in-house artist for Nettwerk Records for much of the 1980s and 1990s. He has designed record album sleeves for ba ...
.
Composition
When the time came to record ''Weapon'', the members of Skinny Puppy decided to go through the process in a way dissimilar to their other post-reunion albums. Key, Ogre, and Mark Walk were frustrated by the result of long production time on their
previous record, so they returned to the fast-paced cycle of Skinny Puppy's early years,
completing the album in "less than a few months".
Additionally, ''Weapon'' was recorded without the aid of management or a professional studio. Ogre called the process of creating the album "amorphous", saying that "the days are gone of having to actually rent studio time and block out however many days you’re going to have to stay within budget."
This lightweight approach allowed the band to achieve the speed of production it desired.
The group started work on the new album by remaking the song "Solvent" from its 1984
EP, ''
Remission'', due to Ogre's dissatisfaction with how the original track came out, especially vocally.
Using "Solvent" and ''Weapon's'' first track, "Wornin'" (stylized as "wornin'"), as a guide, the band experimented with many outmoded instruments and methods in an effort to recapture a distinctly minimal electronic sound.
Key said the return to Skinny Puppy's electronic and equipment roots "seemed right".
Ultimately, the self-imposed restriction of 1980s-era equipment proved too confining, so the band instead chose to focus on the approach and execution of those early albums.
Musically, ''Weapon'' is densely electronic, existing in the space between
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...
and
industrial music
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...
and combining the two in a blend of bright melodies, grating rhythms, and harsh vocals;
it has been called both
electro-industrial
Electro-industrial is a music genre that emerged from industrial music in the early 1980s. While EBM (electronic body music) has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial tends to have a grittier, complex and layered sound wi ...
and
glitch
A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...
music.
Ogre's vocals range from
spoken word
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...
and
rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
to his more characteristically abrasive style.
Some publications noted the album for having surprisingly conventional song structures with "singalong" choruses.
Zachary Houle of ''
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 ...
'' called ''Weapon'' "downright accessible", a stark contrast against the noisier music Skinny Puppy is known for.
Still, the album retains the atypical programmed beats of industrial music, taking advantage of a wide range of percussion from clicks and whirs to deep booms.
The album's second song, "Illisit" (stylized as "illisiT"), is an aggressive electronic single with scathing lyrics and multi-layered electronics.
Daniel Sylvester of ''
Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'' called it the album's best and catchiest track, writing that it "is a polished revisiting of everything that makes Skinny Puppy so compelling: decaying beats and nail-driving refrains, along with world-gone-wrong rants."
The third track, "Salvo" (stylized as "saLvo"), features
breakbeats
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...
that are both "ominous" and "funky"
and employs a number of superimposed, ghostly sounds.
"Glowbel" (stylized as "gLowbeL") acts as a microcosm of ''Weapon'' at large, containing equal parts of sinisterly conveyed aggression and optimistic melody. "Solvent" (stylized as "solvent"), the album's midpoint, remains compositionally unchanged from its original 1984 incarnation, but the version on ''Weapon'' is much sharper and more professionally recorded, with notably refined vocals and improved production.
The second half of the album is darker and more introspective than the first. ''Weapon'' sixth track, "Paragun" (stylized as "paragUn"), features an overpowering chorus and a danceable rhythm,
while the following song, "Survivalisto" (stylized as "survivalisto"), is slow and somber with
new wave influences.
"Tsudanama" (stylized as "tsudanama") is ''Weapon'' heaviest song with "alien, non-linear squeaks and rubbery rhythms"
and an emphasis on bass.
"Plasicage" (stylized as "plasiCage") is another weighty dance track,
but the album's closer, "Terminal" (stylized as "terminal"), is its softest and most dreary, being described by Laura Wiebe of ''Exclaim!'' as "a synth-pop requiem" with a sentimental, dirge-like sound.
Some critics drew comparisons between it and the
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
"Killing Game" from 1992's ''
Last Rights''.
"Overdose", the hidden track that appears after "Terminal", is a previously unreleased song from the ''Remission'' and ''
Bites
Biting is a common zoological behavior involving the active, rapid closing of the jaw around an object. This behavior is found in toothed animals such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, but can also exist in arthropods. Myocytic contrac ...
'' era with redone vocals, further tying ''Weapon'' back to those initial releases.
Touring
Skinny Puppy began performing the album's songs from January 2014 onward, starting with the Live Shapes for Arms tour. The set lists covered a broad range of material, and the stage show was elaborate and complicated.
Later in 2014, the band returned to the road for another tour entitled Eye vs Spy, bringing
Youth Code
Youth Code is an American EBM duo, formed in 2012 by Sara Taylor and Ryan George in Los Angeles, California. The duo's musical style, following the model of early Wax Trax! Records, has been described as industrial music infused with "hardcore a ...
,
Haujobb
Haujobb is a German electronic musical project whose output has ranged drastically within the electronic music spectrum, from electro-industrial to Ambient music, ambient and techno. They have become a staple crossover act, bringing several forms ...
, and
Front Line Assembly
Front Line Assembly (FLA) is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. FLA has developed its own sound incorporating elements of electronic body music and electro-industrial. The band's members ...
as opening acts.
These performances saw Ogre changing between numerous costumes throughout the show, playing a character undergoing stages of mutation at the hand of nuclear radiation.
Ogre began these shows as a hunch-backed, rain-coated figure with a white mask, an umbrella with a
fallout symbol, a cumbersome box, and a plaster dog statue.
As the show progressed, he became a force-fed animal with a suit of many pelts, and later a deformed monstrosity affected by the radiation let loose from the box.
The themes of experimentation had previously been explored on Skinny Puppy's 1988 tour in support of the album ''
VIVIsectVI
''VIVIsectVI'' (pronounced "vivisect six") is the fourth studio album by Canadian electro-industrial band Skinny Puppy. It was released on September 12, 1988 through Nettwerk. Despite tackling controversial topics like animal rights, chemical w ...
'',
as had the concept of bodily mutation on the 1992
''Last Rights'' tour.
Release
''Weapon'' was released to retailers worldwide on May 28, 2013.
It was well-received by critics, several of whom appreciated the musical style being reminiscent of that of the 1980s.
''Weapon'' was available as an
LP,
CD (both
Digipak
Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage.
Jewel case
A ...
and jewel case), and as a digital download.
The LP was reissued in 2016.
The album entered on several
record charts
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...
, including the
''Billboard'' 200 where it peaked at 140.
''Weapon'' was followed by a music video for the song "Illisit".
Jason Alacrity, a fan of Skinny Puppy who had worked with Ogre on some previous projects, approached the band wanting to make a video.
After securing Skinny Puppy's endorsement, Alacrity created the video, which features a mechanical spider, a fugitive running from an armed soldier, and skull imagery reminiscent of the cover for ''Remission''.
Critical reception
''Weapon'' was met with positive reception. The album received an average score of 76/100 from 6 reviews on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews."
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 ...
's David Jeffries called ''Weapon'' "an instantly recognizable return to form for the veteran electro-industrial group, and a sure about-face from the film-worthy, large-landscape music the group has released since the millennium turned."
Zachary Houle of ''
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 ...
'' wrote, "''Weapon'' does what it does so satisfyingly well, that it makes you rethink the concept of industrial music."
''
Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'' writer Daniel Sylvester said that ''Weapon'' was the band's best effort since 1992's ''Last Rights''.
Also writing for ''Exclaim!'', Laura Wiebe gave the album a positive review, highlighting its focused employment of electronics and how it focused on rhythm.
Michael Davis of ''Head Full of Noise'' awarded ''Weapon'' a perfect score, saying that Skinny Puppy "achieve a fluid and solid combination of their older style with the new" and that it "works and sounds beautiful".
Stuart Derdeyn of ''
The Province
''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they are British Columbia's only ...
'' called the album "classic Puppy", and wrote "what may surprise longtime fans is how clean the mix is. Grim but also somewhat weirdly calming".
Writing for ''
Release Magazine
''Release Magazine'' is an independent alternative music online magazine based in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was born in Umeå in 1986. The first years it was run by Britta Näsman as an A5 fanzine
A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fa ...
'', Peter Marchione compared the album to ''Remission'', saying that "the sound is retro and very analogue and if it wasn’t for Ogre’s improved singing technique, ...many of the tracks could easily have been almost 30 years old". Marchione concluded that ''Weapon'' "lives its own life like in a parallel existence that now has re-begun right after the earliest formation of our beloved Puppy, before Dwayne was in the band".
Writing for the ''Chicago Music Guide'', Dennis Kelly applauded the album, noting that the re-recording of the song "Solvent" was "a smart move on their part to potentially introduce new fans to their earlier work".
Ogre's vocals were especially lauded for returning to the lacerating, abrasive quality of the band's earlier albums.
Some publications considered ''Weapon'' Skinny Puppy's best effort since reforming in 2000.
However, not all reception was positive; ''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' gave ''Weapon'' a middling review, calling the band "tired".
Trey Spencer of Sputnikmusic praised ''Weapon'', but also recognized that it could disappoint fans who want a return to Skinny Puppy's more industrial sound.
Track listing
Notes
* On all physical releases of ''Weapon'', a minute of silence and the
hidden song
In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...
"Overdose" are appended to the end of "Terminal" as a single track. Digital versions of the album separate the two tracks.
* The following are the album's stylized track titles: "wornin'", "illisiT", "saLvo", "gLowbeL", "solvent", "paragUn", "survivalisto", "tsudanama", "plasiCage", and "terminal".
* The capital letters in the song titles can be arranged to read "CULLLT", and the O from the bonus track "Overdose" can be added to the message, making it read "OCULLLT". These letters are highlighted as orange on the album's packaging.
Ogre's side project with Walk (
Ohgr
ohGr is an American industrial band formed by Nivek Ogre and Mark Walk of Skinny Puppy. Early ohGr releases incorporated hip hop and synth-pop influences, and in contrast to Skinny Puppy, utilized conventional structures and a lighter tone. O ...
) used the same method to conceal messages in its first two albums.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
Skinny Puppy
*
Nivek Ogre
Kevin Graham Ogilvie (born December 5, 1962), known professionally as Nivek Ogre, is a Canadian musician, performance artist and actor, best known for his work with the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded with cEvin Key. Sinc ...
– vocals, keyboards
*
cEvin Key
Kevin William Crompton (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as cEvin Key, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, producer, and composer. He is best known as a member of the industrial music group Skinny Puppy, which he co-founded in 1982 ...
– keyboards, percussion, electronics, guitars, theremin
*
Mark Walk
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group is among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton ...
– programming, bass, guitars
Additional personnel
*
Ken "Hiwatt" Marshall – mixing and mastering
*
Traz Damji – additional instruments
(track 6)
*
Steven R. Gilmore
Steven R. Gilmore is a Canadian artist and graphic designer most known for his work on album cover design, particularly his role as in-house artist for Nettwerk Records for much of the 1980s and 1990s. He has designed record album sleeves for ba ...
– sleeve design and illustrations
Chart positions
References
External links
"Illisit"official music video at
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
{{Authority control
2013 albums
Skinny Puppy albums
Metropolis Records albums
Glitch (music) albums