It’s an old cliché to say that one should never judge a book by its cover.  The ability to resist using this cliché is seriously put to the test by the abominable cover art adorning the new release by self-purported hardcore (note the lower case) “artist” (note quotation marks), Griz on his new release, “My Evolution”.  Bellowing out at imagined listeners and striking his best “Hulkamania” pose Griz leaps out from in front of a giant American flag and challenges you to say your prayers and eat your vitamins. 

The Hulkster would be proud.  The only problem is that the old cliché falls apart upon the first listen; you can judge this book just fine by its ridiculous cover. Good music needs no explanation, it is in and of itself an explanation of sorts. Since he is apparently unable to rely on his music, the back of Griz’s CD features an in depth explanation of each and every song by which the listener is about to be assaulted.  Besides the blatantly absurd idea of such an explanation, it reads like something out of a second graders journal.  The songs don’t really get much better as Griz belts out one tired “gangsta” or rap-rock cliché after another, all dumped on top of recycled, generic guitar riffs and tacked on harmonics and solos.  

At his best he sounds like a worn out version of Linkin Park pseudo-rapper, Mike Shinoda.  At his worst he’s a tired self-aggrandizing stereotype who actually manages to work a brief interlude featuring his own crying onto the track, “I Need Sometime.”

Griz falls well short of the comparison leveled on him by the bio on his own website which calls him a cross between Eminem and System of a Down.  Indeed.  Between the jingoistic faux-patriotic sentiment of songs like “Bang, Bang, Bang”, and the phony, chest-thumping machismo of “Hardcore” he clearly falls well short of his idols and ideals.  And just forget about the cover of “Born to be Wild”.  The only positive I could dig out of the experience that is, Griz, was that you could enter to win a Harley Davidson on his website.  We can only hope that there is no purchase necessary to win. 

All throughout that same bio and the CD itself, Griz preaches forgiveness and moving on.  It will take all I have to forgive him for subjecting me to his evolution. 
 

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