Review by SilverSinger
2½ stars out of 4
The boys from Omaha are back! After a very impressive stint a the Vans
Warped Tour in June, 311 came out with their 6th studio album, "From
Chaos." I first became a big 311 fan when I first heard "Come Original"
on MTV back in 1999. I loved the mix of rap and rock and reggae in what
was an impressive track on "Soundsystem." After I heard "You Wouldn't
Believe", I was excited maybe it would be in the same gel as them. Bad mistake.
They start off well with a nice thrash/tech track called "You Get Worked."
"Sick Tight" then starts off a slow downward spiral in the quality of
this record. Then, after "You Wouldn't Believe", it really gets bad with
tracks like "Full Ride" and "I Told Myself." They do though make a nice
rally after that with true 311 gems like "Champagne", "Wake Your Mind Up",
"Hostile Apostle", and even "Amber." But it makes a bad finish with "Uncalm"
and "I'll Be Here Awhile."
Now, before the 311 fans castrate me on my first review here, let me explain
the good things. If you need a record to liven up a party, this is the
one to do it. Even through the bad tracks, the band still shows why it
became superstars in the first place with a beautiful mix of punk,
reggae, and rock that you can find in very few bands with exception to
Sublime and possibly Gorillaz.
So, I hope "From Chaos" is just like a bad case of gas for them in the
long run. I would really hate to see a disaster like this repeated on a
major record again. Well, another good thing about this record is that
Allen Iverson never rapped on it. Now, THAT is a disaster!!!!!
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