ohGr is of course, Ogre, who used to be Skinny Puppy's lead singer. If anyone's remotely familiar with the band, they knew that during their later years, Ogre was sort of in his own world, wanting to do completely different things than the rest of the band wanted. After the band split up, Ogre ventured into the more accessible guitar-driven industrial with Ministry and Pigface, while cEvin Key experimented with the abstract electronica of Download and platEAU. Most Skinny Puppy fans I've met tend to have a preference - either they liked Ogre more, or they liked cEvin/Dwayne more.
Being more of the cEvin Key fan, I was skeptical when a friend of mine suggested listening to ohGr's new album, Welt. Technically Welt was Ogre's old side-project from the Skinny Puppy days that he seemed to have abandoned years ago. With respect to the old project, Ogre named his new album "Welt" and resurrected the anticipation fans once held thanks to the help of his personal friend and Seattle resident, Mark Walk.
As a test I randomly downloaded the first ohGr song I could find. I happened to stumble on the song "Pore" and immensely enjoyed what I heard. It was refreshing to know Ogre moved away from the influence of Al Jourgensen. So while at Virgin Records on a Friday September night, I decided to buy the album. I figured all the songs on Welt were as intense as Pore, but when I got it home I discovered it was mostly industrial pop songs... a far cry from the song "Pore" I had downloaded and even further from what Ogre *used* to do back in his Skinny Puppy days!
At first I thought I was listening to a deranged Devo album and I thought I wasted my money. My first impression was to rate this album a 2... perhaps even a 3. The lyrics seemed like nursery rhymes and the music had too much of a "Fisher Price - My First Industrial Band" sound going on... but the more I listened, the more it started to grow on me.
As written in the liner notes, Mark Walk is responsible for most of the music on the album. He's also the guy who remixed the song Smothered Hope on Skinny Puppy's Remix DysTemper, and funny enough, most of the music on Welt has that Atari-ness you'd expect from Walk. Unlike other artists of the industrial genre, the Nintendo-fx are tasteful and actually add to the listening experience. While you can definitely tell it's Ogre on vocals, I was mostly surprised by the Gary Numan influence I heard in his voice.
After a few days of listening to this album, my opinions on this album have changed completely. It's definitely a fun driving album in my opinion, and while the idea of hearing ohGr belt out a pseudo-rap is a bit ridiculous, it's also entertaining.
wateR makes a great opening song. It follows the typical rock formula and therefor won't alienate the listener. deviL and kettlE are also rock songs, and we start to get the idea that Ogre truly has made a step away from his Skinny Puppy association. At times the songs are reminiscent of Gary Numan, and at other times David Bowie - especially with the faux-whiney rock-star attitude in the vocals. You're just waiting for Ogre to start singing about spiders from mars.
earthworM is a slower song which uses a very Devo-sounding backing instrumental, however lusiD is where the album picks up again. This is the first classic industrial dance track we hear on the album. This oughta get the kids dancing at the clubs!
porE is definitely by far the most intense song on the album and offers a great variety of sounds for the listener. My first impression of this song was that Mark Walk stole sound effects from an old Atari video game. Essentially, that's what we're listening to - old sampled video games put on a fast drum track...
Atari on speed.
Ogre, however, is the best part to this song. They've pre-recorded, cut-up and modified his voice and have played back the lyrics twice as fast as one would normally say them...
"the laughing dying culture pop, the famous moldy party hop" is the first line we hear. That line is said within 2 seconds. The entire song is a tongue-twister. This is the second track that could easily be a hit in the clubs.
chaoS offers a glimpse back to the Skinny Puppy years with dark atmospheric sounds and monotonous Ogre. You wouldn't think twice if I told you this was leftover from The Process, and truthfully? I wouldn't doubt if it was. The final notes of chaoS are haunting... very reminiscent of Skinny Puppy.
Just when you thought the rest of Welt would turn bleak, crackeR comes around and offers a hilarious satire... ironically the first real single off of the album, one in which MTV actually played the video for! It starts off sounding like something you'd expect from Ogre's old ventures with Ministry or Pigface,... fast-paced guitar fades away... then goes into a silly pop song
"you think you're evil but you're not,
still sucking life from the mainstream,
it's so deluded give it up,
what's that you hide behind your pile of sh*t"
Perhaps a little mocking at Marilyn Manson? After all... it was Ogre who inspired Marilyn Manson's theatrics. Or perhaps it's a mock at Trent Reznor, famous for borrowing Skinny Puppy's "Dig It" and turning it into his own version of "Down In It".
Before we can figure out who Ogre's trying to frown upon, we hear the most unexpecting rant - and actual rap! The rap goes on for quite a few minutes before the radio-friendly chorus continues and eventually fades to the end of the song.
soloW has the 80's and Gary Numan written all over it, and then comes suhleap. For all you Skinny Puppy fans out there, this is Amnesia Part II.
In my own personal opinion, this is possibly the best music on the entire album. Once again, it's kind of hard to explain - it's one that just clicks with me. It reminds me of the music to the Final Fantasy video games - kind of tugs at your emotions for reasons unknown. It sounds like another track off The Process - Skinny Puppy's post-mortem album. Ogre's vocal styles are identical to that off of Amnesia, one of the more powerful tracks on The Process. His vocals are slightly echoed, and the chiming of Final Fantasy music, synth, bass, just adds to the depth. Not only that, but there's a lot of emotion and power in Ogre's voice... something we haven't heard up until now.
There's also something about the bass and the chiming that reminds me of old Cure songs... it's magical. Whatever it is, they were able to replicate it here. Maybe I just miss Skinny Puppy? Perhaps... but this tracks one of the better things I've heard in a *LONG* time.
minuS is the finale of Welt, and just like the opening track, is a great example of ohGr doing rock, but it wouldn't have been my choice for a final track. I would have put "suhleaP" as the final song... but that would have been wishful thinking. ;)
All in all, if you enjoyed Skinny Puppy, you'd probably enjoy ohGr's Welt. In conclusion, every one I've spoken to who has listened to this album didn't know what to think of it at first, but it eventually grew on them.
If you buy Welt, give it time. This ain't no elite industrial, but it's fun and catchy industrial. It's time to take this genre a little less seriously and we can thank ohGr for starting this trend.
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