Sick Puppies Tri-Polar
by Derric Miller
Staff Writer
When Sick Puppies released Dressed Up As Life in 2007, everyone with the ability to hear realized this band was on the edge of “making it.” With songs like “My World,” “Pitiful,” “Cancer,” “All the Same” and “Asshole Father,” Sick Puppies carved out a sound that had both an edge and could soften the blow with more sensitive tracks. This was in large part due to Shimon Moore’s sometimes mesmerizing falsetto passages; Moore used his vocals to truly paint aural stories on Dressed Up As Life. Unfortunately, on their new release Tri-Polar, Sick Puppies cease blazing down the trail only they have forged through the years and instead embrace the vanilla Mainstream Rock scene, stripping away whatever unique identity they had to join the herd.
How vanilla are they? Well, they are “bragging” about the new song “You’re Going Down” being featured on WWE’s Extreme Rules PPV broadcast.
Tri-Polar jets off with “War,” a noisy, clumsy track beginning with Moore shouting, “Let’s do this!” If Moore’s goal was to become more brutal and guttural this go-round, he succeeded. Of course, this takes away from the musicality of the vocals. For fans of Sick Puppies before Tri-Polar, their only thought can be, “What’s going on?”
Up next is the immature “I Hate You,” but it at least it is leagues above “War.” In fact, besides the kindergarten-y chorus of, “I know you think you hate me but I will always hate you more,” the verses are what you’d expect from Sick Puppies.
“Riptide” is the one track where they regain their identity. They no longer sound like Saliva clones on “Riptide.” Just the pacing of the lyrics as Moore sings, “You all hate your children. They’re too fat to feed. You’re on medication; take your pills and sleep. I think I’m doing just fine, compared to what you’ve been doing.” Sick Puppies sonically, in the past anyway, support the great unwashed masses, and write music meant to lift up those feeling downtrodden. That’s what happens here, and few bands do it with such honesty as Sick Puppies. As far as brilliant choruses, this is the exact definition of one. “Riptide” is bittersweet, though, because the album all falls apart on the next song.
“You’re Going Down,” again, is Saliva’s territory. Let them write this sort of pseudo-macho offal meant to energize the Red Bull masses. “When my fist hits your face and your face hits the floor …” Really? This from the band who once waxed poetic, “Welcome to my world, where everyone I ever need always ends up leaving me alone. Another lesson burned, and I’m drowning in the ashes, kicking, screaming …”
After you get through the opening tracks, your Sick Puppies appetite is probably nil. If so, that’d be a little pre-judgmental, because tracks like “Odd One” “Should’ve Known Better” and “Master of the Universe” are more palatable than the aforementioned blather.
The one surprising composition, especially considering the WWF/UFC/WWE tone of Tri-Polar, is “White Balloons.” Bassist Emma Anzai sings lead vocals with Moore, and she holds her own against Moore’s sometimes overpowering delivery. The song begins slowly, with Anzai and Moore playing off each other, and builds into a mammoth chorus. While a fairly stunning song, it’s too little, too late.
Out of all the bands currently in the industry narrative, you’d think Sick Puppies would know better than to play to the lowest common denominator. Bands that do so do it only because they have no other options — a one-trick pony merely has one trick. This is clearly is not the case with Sick Puppies, or at least wasn’t, before Tri-Polar.
Label: Virgin/EMI
Track listing:
War
I Hate You
Riptide
You’re Going Down
Odd One
So What I Lied
Survive
Should’ve Known Better
Maybe
Don’t Walk Away
Master of the Universe
In it for Life
White Balloons
HRH Rating: 6.1/10