Released
1992
Label
Nettwer/Capitol
Reviewed by
Michael C.
Lund
Visit
Last Edit/Update
23 March, 1998
Skinny Puppy
LAST RIGHTS
Track Listing
1. Love In Vein
2. Killing Game
3. Knowhere?
4. Mirror Saw
5. Inquisition
6. Scrapyard
7. Riverz End
8. Lust Chance
9. Circustance
11. Download
Probably Skinny Puppy's least accessible album, Last Rights is
also the band's most experimental and melancholically beautiful release. Half the songs
are explorations into noise and cut-up technique, while the other half are relatively
melodic and streamlined, carrying on in the vein of Skinny Puppy's past
releases. The lyrics on Last
Rights are largely based on Nivek Ogre's drug experience, which prompted
him to withhold them from being printed on the sleeve, as he judged them too personal.
However, those words that are clearly audible, and Ogre's vocal performance in
general, carry an urgency and power beyond any of his previous work.
The first song on Last Rights --
"Love In Vein" -- was supposed to have been the second single from the album.
Apparently, remixes and extra tracks for the single were recorded, but, for unknown
reasons, it was never released. The song, as it stands, is at great introduction to the
album. Ogre delivers a very dynamic vocal performance, underscored by a
compelling beat and a rich underlying sound structure centered around strong synth
thematics.
"Killing Game," which
follows, is one of Skinny Puppy's saddest and most beautiful songs. With
the vocals prominently in the foreground of the soundpicture, the musical side is rather
subdued, and the pace of it all is slow, giving the piece a balladlike quality.
Hammering percussions, heavy guitar
riffs, and an overwhelming background presence of ominous synths dominate
"Knowhere?" The piece plays like a cold sweat nightmare, and the vocals are only
sporadically audible, as they dip in and out of the sonic storm.
The surreal atmosphere is carried
over into "Mirror Saw," although on this song the chaos is beautifully
structured. The song features a very layered soundpicture of thematic fragments, backwards
skipping records, treated gospel samples, and evocative snippets of lyrics. The song
displays the essence of Skinny Puppy compressed into four minutes, and it
is a song that cEvin Key has referred to as a true "Dwayne Goettel
moment."
"Inquisition" was remixed
for Skinny Puppy's single relese off Last Rights,
but, as with most of the band's songs, the original version far surpasses the later
reworkings. The song features a strong driving rhythm track and compelling synth
atmospheres, which make the song one of the most accessible and dance friendly on the
album, and an obvious choise for a single cut.
The second half of Last Rights is largely
absent of Nivek Ogre, and is musically more challenging than the first five
songs. "Scrapyard" plays like a noise version of 70s acid rock. It is certainly
an interesting track, but one that may tax the nerves of even hardened Skinny
Puppy fans.
"Riverz End" is an
instrumental piece utilizing equal parts of "Rivers" and "Choralone"
(both originally recorded for Rabies), as well as further
elaborations by Key and Goettel. "Lust Chance" is likewise
instrumental, but whereas "Riverz End" is largely harmonious, this track is a
noisy collage of throbbing percussions, fragmented sound and media samples and layers of
distortion.
The angelic opening atmospheres of
"Circustance" notwithstanding, this track too develops into a rater noisy and
foreboding piece, with brief appearances of Ogre yelling incomprehensively out of
the whirling chaos of sound.
Closing the album is another
instrumental piece divided into two distinct parts. The beginning continues the
experimental, collagelike style of the preceding tracks, but then halfway through, the
piece shifts into an extended passage of soughing spacy sounds. This curious ending to the
album has a soothing effect that brings the listener's heart rate back down to a normal
level, after the stormy quality of especially the second half of the album.
The tenth track, which is missing
from the track listing of Last Rights, was
originally entitled "Left Handshake," and was a song featuring extensive samples
of Timothy Leary. However, the owner of the source of the samples threatened Skinny
Puppy with a law suit, if they used the samples in question. Not wishing to be
involved in legal complications -- although Leary personally had given his
permission for use of his words in the song -- Skinny Puppy decided to
drop the song altogether. It has since appeared on the European release of Brap, as well as on a couple
of bootlegs.
In addition to the problems
surrounding "Left Handshake," the production of Last Rights was marred
by frustration, anger, and Ogre being deeply addicted to heroin. The disparity
between the two halves of the albu may be seen as a result of these circumstances, but,
especially in the light of Key's and Goettel's subsequent work in Download,
the decision to include more experimental and unconventional material on Last Rights appear to
have been a direction Key and Goettel desired to explore anyway.
