Individual lines growl, “Life’s not meant to be disposable” and “Fight for your honesty/Fight for integrity.” “Fall Into Sleep” mourns a world lacking fidelity, loyalty, unity and inner peace. The band examines the deadening effects of popular media on “TV Radio.”
The lead screamer uses angry f-words to deliver venomous rants about being betrayed (“Happy?,” “Determined”) and casting out a person who has exhausted his patience (“Just”). On “Pushing Through” he wishes he’d never been born. “IMN” enumerates ways he might end it all (“I want to eat a bullet, carve myself, beat my face, catatonic … My noose, my world, my rules”). Images of death, along with a suicide note, give “Pulling the String” a morbid sense of finality. Elsewhere, darkness closes in via lines such as, “Nothing matters anymore at all … can’t stop the bleeding” (“Rain. Sun. Gone”) and “Hope is out of season/I lost sight, no hint of light” (“All That You Are”). If “Choices” is to be believed, our leaders are all insane and the notion of “freedom” is just an empty promise.
Angry. Profane. Hopeless. In the tradition of bands like Slipknot, Mudvayne uses blind rage to argue that happiness is an illusion, so we might as well curl up and die. Did someone mention waving the white flag?
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.