Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 09/13/2005
It should come as no great surprise that
Institute,
Gavin Rossdale's first band since breaking up
Bush, sounds a whole lot like
Bush.
Rossdale wasn't just the frontman, he was the songwriter and architect of their sound, an Englishman enthralled with American
grunge who was at first taken for a musical carpetbagger, but as the '90s rolled on, it became apparent that he was one of the few
post-grunge rockers to really, truly believe in this stuff. As all the American grungesters abandoned the sound,
Rossdale stuck with it, sometimes bringing in fashionable
electronic beats as he did on
Bush's final album, 2001's
Golden State, but pretty much sticking to the same sound that he developed on
Sixteen Stone. Although he'd been away for about five years -- during which time such odious neo-
grunge bands as
Nickelback and
Puddle of Mudd appeared, both proving that
Bush, like their American commercial
grunge counterparts
Stone Temple Pilots, were dealt with far too harshly at the peak of their success --
Rossdale didn't change much in his time out of the spotlight, and in a way he benefits from not being in the glare of the spotlight, since
Institute's debut album,
Distort Yourself, feels fresher than the last
Bush album. It does help that
Rossdale has joined forces with fellow '90s
alt-metal survivor
Page Hamilton, who sharpens the production with the precision he brought to
Helmet, even if
Institute never sounds as tightly wound or brutal as that fairly cerebral art-
metal band. Nevertheless,
Hamilton's approach to recording means that
Distort Yourself is heavier and harder than any
Bush album, even the
Steve Albini-produced
Razorblade Suitcase, yet it's also cleaner and sleeker; it cuts like a scalpel, not a dull knife. While
Rossdale still falls prey to some embarrassing lyrical turns here and there -- the very title of
"When Animals Attack" dredges up unfortunate memories of
Fox's schlock nature exploitation TV special of the same name, while the sincerely crooned chorus of "this boombox needs batteries" is just mildly bewildering -- his songs are not only sturdy, it's his most consistent set of tunes since the heyday of
Bush. And try as you may, it's hard not to compare
Institute to
Bush, since it's not only from the same writer/guitarist/singer, but because
Rossdale's aesthetic has not changed over the last ten years; he remains doggedly faithful to
grunge-inspired
hard rock. He may not have changed his perspective, but changing his band and hiring a new, sympathetic producer has indeed slapped a fresh coat of paint on his signature sound, so
Distort Yourself sounds livelier than anything he's done since
Razorblade Suitcase. Not that it sounds hip, or even particularly relevant to the sound of 2005, but that doesn't matter --
Rossdale is carrying along as if nothing has changed, staying true to his vision, and those who have stuck with him will find
Institute a nice revitalization for the ever-earnest
post-grunge icon.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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