 Mondo Generator - Dead Planet Review
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Following the split of the Queens of the Stone Age brain trust with the success of Songs for the Deaf, fans of that band may have noticed the oddly placed, schizophrenic interludes, like "Six Shooter" and "Tension Head" no longer punctuated their records. The reason for this, as many know, was the departure of founding member, sometimes vocalist and always bassist, Nick Oliveri. While not a new phenomenon (Oliveri had previously worked with QOTSA leader Josh Homme in Kyuss before parting ways over creative differences), the move still surprised many and ultimately robbed QOTSA of the stark bifurcation in personality that so defined that band.
While Queens of the Stone Age has soldiered on with Homme's new cast of musicians, character actors at best, what became of Nick Oliveri, the goateed dark side to QOTSA's even temperament? From the sound of it, he's been locked away carefully crafting the beautiful chaos that is, Dead Planet. Mondo Generator has been around since before Queens of the Stone Age was even a blip on the alt radio radar, and while their first release didn't surface until 2000 by way of Cocaine Rodeo, the band's origins date back to Oliveri's time with punk filth merchants, the Dwarves. 2002's, A Drug Problem that Never Existed, was a quantum leap from that debut recording and subsequently, Dead Planet ups the ante even further with a stronger batch of songs and much more focused performance.
With a largely new band, and some help from the large cast of musicians hailing from Oliveri's home in the deserts of California, Dead Planet lays out seventeen tracks of impure, very adulterated, dirty punk-influenced mania. If you need a reminder of any of his previous projects, Oliveri's vocal-chord shredding scream knifes into your ears from the start of Basket Case to the closing notes of Sleep the Lie Away. Musically, think of a shotgun discharge of chords, drums, and screams, the pretensions of QOTSA stripped completely away by the blast in favor of a street-punk rooted annihilation. It's easy to tell the kind of music Oliveri cut his teeth on. There is plenty of very early Black Flag-style California hardcore punk and Motorhead to gnaw on with Dead Planet, and the sheer volume of Kyuss (Oliveri was a founding member of that seminal band as well, hence the name Mondo Generator after the Kyuss song written by Oliveri) informs much of the record. Dead Planet works, however, because of the extremely tight and well-crafted bunch of songs Oliveri has put forth in this effort. Songs like, Lie Detector and SonicSlowMotionTrails have evolved well beyond the almost half-finished sounding tracks from Cocaine Rodeo and the more experimental nature of A Drug Problem
There is no more Desert Sessions feel to this album. Thematically, the world of drugs and insanity collide, and while this isn't a concept album, most of the songs run pretty much in one of those veins or the other, no pun intended. While Queens of the Stone Age has lost it's maniacal side, the World has gained what will hopefully become a more full time band in Mondo Generator. The name of the record is Dead Planet. You almost get the impression from the intensity and violence with which Nick Oliveri performs every track that "Dead Planet" represents a goal rather than something to be feared and avoided. The way this record turned out, he may be well on his way to achieving this particular aim, and taking us all along for the ride. Me? I'm purchasing tickets in advance.
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Mondo Generator - Dead Planet
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