Skinny Puppy :: Weapon (Metropolis)

While all of Skinny Puppy’s post reunion albums have had their peaks, Weapon is their strongest and show the band in prime form. Maintaining a political edge, the album is still quite accessible and dance floor oriented.

Skinny Puppy is a band who has never shied from controversy. From their start in the early 80’s they have tackled the issues of animal rights, vivisection and the wars in the middle east. On Weapon they take the subjects of obsession with guns, violence, and paranoia within our society head on. While maintaining a political edge, the album is still quite accessible and dance floor oriented.

The album starts out with “wornin'”—a somewhat of a paradoxical mellow moment. Ogre laments, “I’ve been hiding out of it. I’ve been hiding so far out.” Perhaps these are autobiographical words of someone who has had enough of the media overload. Things are quickly kicked in to high gear with “illisiT” a song about paranoia and the potential that our society has of becoming a police state. This is one of the albums highest points with Ogre’s voice going through different processing of the refrain “This is the criminal age.”

A retro-vibe can be felt throughout out the album with reference points to Skinny Puppy’s earlier works. Ogre’s vocals are darker and more intense while cEvin Key’s synths are warm and analogue sounding. “solvent” is an updated version of Skinny Puppy’s classic track from their 1984 Remissions EP. While the song is nearly 30-yrs old, it still feels vibrant in the context of Weapon. The excellent “SaLvo” comes across as the companion piece to “solvent,” with its sound design and vocal processing. “SaLvo” continues on with the concept of the Weapon with its closing lines “…amend the bullet given life a metal casing with more rights than we be gun.” The album’s closing track sounds as though it would fit in just perfect on Skinny Puppy’s Bites album. My only complaint about “Overdose” is that is too short, clocking in at just over two minutes.

While all of Skinny Puppy’s post reunion albums have had their peaks, Weapon is their strongest and show the band in prime form. The album feels solid as a whole and fits well amongst their classics—thought provoking yet not preachy and leaves the listener with a lot to think about. Highly recommended.

Weapon is available on Metropolis. [Release page]