Search - Vanilla Ice :: Hard to Swallow

Not Entirely Good, But Not Entirely Bad Either.

Jay Ell | Somewhere, US | 02/25/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Hard To Swallow marked the return of probably the most parodied, hounded, and maybe even hated musician in America. This release finds Vanilla Ice angrier than ever, so it's fitting that the album falls into the rap/metal genre. Downtuned guitars, screamy vocals, and angry lyrics are the meal of the day in this album, and the results aren't quite as bad as most might think judging only from the artist's name listed on the CD's cover.



Get ready, because over the course of the album's 11 actual songs (2 pointless interludes) you're going to experience a lot of Mr. Ice's rage, which is mostly aimed at his naysayers. A theme which will probably be on your last nerve by the time the disc stops spinning. Though his lyrics are a bit trite at times, I think he proves he's still quite a competent vocalist/rapper as some of his rhymes are quite clever. Not every rhyme is gold, in fact there are quite a few stinker lines looming, but overall he puts up a pretty good performance.



Musically the album is really typical rap/metal fodder. The guitars are tuned low and make a lot of senseless noise during verses with the bass line thumping in the back, and the drums aren't much to write home about. They're just there to maintain the tempo.



I enjoyed the mixing on the album. It's nice to hear something angry that actually sounds angry and ugly. This album doesn't have a lot of polish production-wise and it works into Ice's favor by really helping express the anger he's wanting to convey.



The main problem with this CD is that almost all the songs tend to outstay their welcome. Too many times I found myself enjoying a song, but as songs crept closer and closer to the 5 minute mark (when the song was really finished at 3:30-4:00) started to grate on me. Songs like Scars, ADD, and F*ck Me are prime examples of this and find Ice usually screaming at the end about how bad life has treated him, etc. Or long musical outros that just aren't all that good. I can understand wanting to get that aggression out, but doing it in the lyrics might make it seem a bit less whiney.



In the end, this CD did win me over. It's just a good CD to pop in and chill out with. It's not without faults, but it's not without merit either. If rap/metal is your thing (and it's not mine, imagine that) I'd say give it a fair chance before knocking it just because of the artist."

Hard to swallow

Peter Riikola | Scandinavia | 06/29/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"If you are a big fan of Korn, Slipknot and Limp Bizkit, I can guarantee you gonna like this. It's far away from Vanilla's first album Go To The Extreme which is more like Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch. So if you like the old Vanilla your going to be dissapointed. I like this album cause im a fan of Korn and Limp Bizkit. I gave this 3 stars cause the genre is not my favorite style. I like hardrock and metal very much but rapmetal is ok."

I scream! You scream! We all scream for Vanilla Ice cream!

Patrick | Alton, Illinois U.S.A. | 04/06/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"To all of you music lovers out there, Don't even think about ever buying this CD. Now that this CD is out-of-print now. I listened to the samples on here on Amazon, and I felt like I just wasted 30 minutes of my life listening to the samples. Vanilla Ice, your first CD To the Extreme was much better, but this piece of garbage does not deserve to exist in this world. This has got to be the worst CD ever made. This is not the kind of ice cream music that people would want to scream for. It is the most retarded CD on EARTH! I really loved your first CD to the Extreme, but Vanilla Ice, Please leave metal and rap music alone. Rap music is black people's music, not white people's music. Listening to the samples on this CD, My advice would be for you to stick to rap music since you did good on that first album. Better advice yet, just stop making music. Period."