3 out of 5

Produced by: Gavin Rossdale, Page Hamilton

Label: Interscope

I’ve been a constant Bush supporter since Sixteen Stone.  The same isn’t true for Helmet / Meanwhile – I had to get over some assumptive judgments based on their fanbase to accept and get into their output, but I recognized their influence on the “alternative” music scene, and by the time of ‘Distort Yourself’s release, I owned and dug a few of their albums.  So I’m not quite sure why I met the release of the disc with ambivalence.  Perhaps it’s the pretty bland cover art of some running horseys, but bland cover art didn’t stop me from loving Golden State.  Maybe it’s the tribal-arm-tattoo lookin’ logo the band chose, which unfortunately reinforced those dude stereotypes both bands can trigger.  Or maybe my memory is just a little cloudy, and my ambivalence was arrived at just by hearing the first track, single ‘Bullet Proof Skin,’ because my one nit of Distort Yourself – though it’s major enough – is that it doesn’t sound very inspired.  Gavin’s writing is prone to both cheesiness and odd-to-the-point-of-stupidness, and the success of Glycerine has forever cursed Bush releases with weepy tracks, but every Bush release still, for the most part, sounds felt to me, that whatever was going on at that point mattered to Rossdale, and it came out the way he wanted it to in the music.  Institute, on the other hand, feels more like a stop-gap – like a need to keep making music, even if your heart isn’t in it.  Propping yourself up on a hard-hitting rhythm section like Helmet’s is a good idea; it seems to have encouraged Gavin to stay away from weepy indulgence: most of the tracks on ‘Distort’, musically, are some of Rossdale’s most engaging, always staying on the rocking side of a hook.  And he sings with conviction, but, though I can’t pinpoint how they differ, the lyrics feel empty.  They have the same silly / stupid issues, but hollowed out.  Making Distort an album that sounds good, and actually makes you think, while tapping your toe – this is a pretty great song – but ultimately an empty listening experience, one that doesn’t leave anything playing in your head to make you want to return to it.