Search - Unsane :: Scattered Smothered & Covered

Genuine Noise Rock, Not Noise

Bill Lumbergh | Initech | 04/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Noise rock is also one of my most favorite genres. Stuff by artists like Today Is The Day, Neurosis, Helmet, and definitely, Unsane. This album is out of print, but you can still get the best-of CD, "Lambhouse", in stores around (not Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart sucks ass.). This CD has all the classics. "Alleged", "Blew", and the all out famous "Scrape". Remember the music video with all those skateboarders crashing and scraping themselves? That's the video for "Scrape", people. If you can find it, buy it. That is all."

One of the best albums all time-period.

J. Moscatello | mt pleasant, sc United States | 01/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"im not much into hardcore,but this,oh my god,its unreal.every song is just pure rock.id call them an extremely [mad],angry,and louder version of helmet.chris does a great job on vox;its nice to see some real low budget stage type vocals.the guitar work by chris tops the show.he is unbelieveable.dave currans bass cant be ignored as it drove the cd along with vinny's drums.gotta love the italian drummer.i know this was unsanes attempt at a more "commercial" record (what a way to do it,huh).the video for scrape was great.in my humble opinion,YOU CANT LIVE WITHOUT THIS CD!A MUST HAVE FOR ANY FAN OF GREAT MUSIC."

A pioneering work of noise sculpture

Wheelchair Assassin | The Great Concavity | 11/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nowadays everyone and their brother is mixing and matching heavy-music among the first and best practicioners of the art. While Unsane's raw, scathing aggression may have screamed "hardcore" upon first listen, there are few if any similarities between these guys and lowbrow one-note "tough guy" hardcore bands like Hatebreed. In fact, the noisy, dissonant tension in Chris Spencer's guitar and the intricacy of Vincent Signorelli's drum assault clearly position Scattered, Smothered, and Covered as a forerunner to the noisecore genre that's so prevalent in heavy music today. The parallels may not be obvious at first, but listen to some Botch, Coalesce, or Burnt by the Sun right after hearing this album and the similarities become clear. Loosely structured, oppressively atmospheric noise may be all the rage these days thanks to the above-mentioned bands (and several others), but Unsane were doing it earlier.



Really, though, what makes this album an undying classic is the emotion these guys so clearly put into what they were doing. Now, when I say "emotion," I am most definitely NOT referring the prepackaged saccharine pumped out by every lame nu-metal and wuss-rock band on the airwaves these days. Rather, Unsane channelled all of their frustration and disaffection into creating some of the most compellingly demented music ever recorded, propelled by a succession of punishing rhythms and throat-ripping screams. Much like its equally brilliant followup, Occupational Hazard, Scattered, Smothered, and Covered is a sort of mood music for psychopaths. It's heavy, it's passionate, and it's technical: what more could you want?"