Search - Stanford Prison Experiment :: Galo Hunch

100% great CD - must own for fans of melodic hardcore

ammason_at_gmail | Orlando, FL | 05/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is terrific. There is nothing to be skipped, bypassed, turned-off, or grow tired of.

I checked their follow-up, "Wrecreation" upon its release, and it didn't measure up to this one. A very different sound, as I recall. And I haven't heard the other disc; but this CD makes them a name to recommend.

I don't like Fugazi, and I don't know other bands similar enbough to compare against this album or the general SPE sound, but I like RATM, Minor Threat, and Man Is The Bastard. Minor Threat has the fast & hard buzz, Rage has the tunes, and MITB has the percussion.

This album from SPE seems to turn-down all those elements just a notch and fuse them exceedingly well.

I LOVE THIS CD.

And right now, with much stress, I *need* to hear it and realize I've loaned it out. The snippets are great teasers to unlock the memories of rocking out and thrashing."

The poor man's Fugazi.

James Burns | Bellingham, WA | 02/10/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I can't really decide whether not I think this band merely "kinda rocks," or if I really like them. Stanford Prison Experiment's instrumentation is definately their strong suit. Mario Jimenez certainly means what he says, but all the lyrics have a same-y quality, and all seem to be about an omnipotent puppetmaster-type. Yes, we're talking about "The Man," "Big Brother," "Whitey." The sound here is not unlike Jawbox guitar riffs dropped inside Unsane bass and drum tracks. I hear bits of Quicksand, Jane's Addiction and even Soundgarden popping up here and there. Mario Jimenez's voice sometimes has an ability to annoy, but his nasally whine works other times, usually when he tries to avoid actual "singing." The main thing keeping me from giving Stanford Prison Experiment a shining endorsement rather than just a thumbs-up is that the songwriting shows weak spots more often than it should, and this album, while much stronger than the follow-up, "Wrecreation," which suffered from what I like to call "punk rock major label debut syndrome," still has points where the riffs don't exactly hit you where you should, and the lyrics seem a bit too calculated. Still, there is kind of a charm to a band that isn't exactly perfect. While not mind-blowing, Stanford Prison Experiment have kind of an an everyman quality. They're not musical or lyrical geniuses, but they do what they do, and are more than competent at executing it. If this album was a thesis paper, I'd give it a C+. They're damn good at being slightly above average."