Cover:
6 Mind Bombs out of 10
The cover art is, uh, different. It's a
cartoon-like drawing of a scary giant green woman, sort of like a she-hulk,
dismembering the members of Supermercado in front of what appears to be
the Chicago city skyline. The artwork looks like it was drawn by a 5th
grader with severe emotional problems and is extremely disturbing. I like
it.
Booklet: 3
Daisy Chains out of 10
It's a 4 panel thing and looks pretty cheap. Real basic without any
lyrics, just tracking and one page of simple production notes. A few
steps above a demo, but not much. At least it's full color printing
and, thanks to the use of a few Photoshop filters, there are some tripped-out
pictures of the band to look at.
Songs: 9
Pivot Mans out of 10
If you filled a blender with the very best of Faith No More, Red Hot
Chili Peppers, The Bee Gees, Anthrax, Busta Rhymes, Enuff Z'Nuff, Biohazard,
Lenny Kravitz, Rage Against the Machine, Rick James, Ministry, Iron
Maiden, Marvelous 3, Linkin Park, Hootie and the Blowfish, Black Sabbath,
Soundgarden, Jamiroquai, The Chemical Brothers, Warrior Soul, Earth
Wind and Fire, Foo Fighters, Primus, Bob Marley, White Zombie, Parliament
and Kingofthehill, mixed it on high, then poured the resulting ooze
into your stereo, well, it might sound something like Supermercado.
That's about the only way I can describe it. I've heard someone else
of lesser intelligence say that Supermercado "sounds like Pivot
Man with a rapper," but it's much, much more than that. This CD
kicks ass and I was pretty much blown away. It's a very eclectic mix
of melodic hard rock, industrial thrash metal, funk, electronica, rap,
power pop, disco, and about 17 other musical genres all stirred together.
Matt Mercado's powerful, sometimes soulful, occasionally abrasive voice
is complimented by additional vocalist Cliff Hunt, who fills in Supermercado's
sound with raps and secondary, bluesy melodies. (Yes, he's a big black
dude, if you were wondering. Black dudes rocking hard are always cool
in my book. Diversity rules.) The rest of the band are kind of like
superhero musicians unto themselves. The rhythm section kicks major
ass and is about as tight as a balloon-knot. The whole album is phenomenal
but highlights would be the songs "Bitch Ass," which is a
tune Limp Bizkit and every other nu-metal act could learn something
from; the earworm candidate "Cannon Ball Dream," which is
reminiscent of Enuff Z'Nuff on methamphetamines (Hi Donnie!); "Leather
Messiah," which sounds a little like Iron Maiden if Bruce Dickinson
were replaced by Ike Turner; and my personal favorite, "Ditch Kitty,"
which has enough old-school hooks to please anyone hanging on to memories
of 80s metal, but contemporary enough to get played on modern rock radio
stations across the country. There's even a song Supermercado sings
about themselves, aptly entitled "Supermercado." There's no
reason these guys shouldn't be a household name within a year, but we
know how fickle the music industry is so who knows.
Comments: Supermercado
is the latest project by musical wizard and former Mind Bomb singer
Matt Mercado, who's fronted countless bands in the Chicago area since
the late 80s, starting with the alt-glam rock of Daisy Chain all the
way through the industrial groove metal of Pivot Man, a still-intact
project that's currently on hiatus (more than 1/2 of Pivot Man comprises
Supermercado). Mind Bomb got a lot of critical fanfare back in '93 with
their one and only self-titled major label debut, itself a blend of
melodic rock and industrial metal, but was probably just a little too
"out there" for the general public. Supermercado is definitely
an evolution of Mind Bomb's decade-old blend of muscial styles, and
the time might be right for a larger degree of mass appeal. Note that
'Scary Baby' contains a lot of studio trickery. It will be interesting
to see if they can pull it off live, but the energy coming out of these
songs is nearly overwhelming, so unless they are really sloppy outside
of the studio, I don't think anyone will ever notice.
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