Pro-Pain "Run for Cover" CD
[Spitfire]
I gotta say, I'm not a Pro-Pain fan. When I was young I loved their first record, but it really didn't stand the test of time, and I've pretty much never listened to 'em since. So the prospect of Pro-Pain covering hardcore/punk and metal bands that they respect doesn't interest me that much. It's not awful, but you know, is it necessary? In many cases the covers are pretty straightforward, the main difference being that they're cleaner and tighter than the originals of course, and the vocals are more in the gruff vein, but they don't really mess with a lot of the songs. Such is the case for the covers of Discharge, Celtic Frost, Motörhead, and Agnostic Front. Operation Ivy's "The Crowd" is a really surprising choice, but they do an awesome job with this one! The vocals are awesome, using a raspy singing style more akin to the original than what you'd tend to hear on a Pro-Pain record. "100%" by The Spudmonsters is another unusual choice, but it works out awesome, again due to the brief appearance of some singing vocals and the more "upbeat" nature of some of the song's melodic properties. I've never even heard of Bohse Onkelz, but their hardcore/punk "Terpentin" is one of the catchiest songs herein. Bands really need to stop trying to cover "South of Heaven", too. I don't know why no one can keep from fucking up the guitar harmonies and stuff, but I'm not into it. The only other songs I'm not really enjoying are Sepultura's "Refuse/Resist" (it's a generic choice for a cover and they use some sort of goofy guitar effect instead of doing the tribal drum fill), Negative Approach's "Nothing" (it just doesn't feel right), Life of Agony's "Weeds" (Come on, Life of Agony? I love their first record, but does anyone need to hear them covered?), and believe it or not, the Crumbsuckers' "Just Sit There". Since the chief member of Pro-Pain was in the god damn Crumbsuckers I'm not sure how they could manage to mess the song up, but it's not working for me. I'm indifferent about the Black Flag and GBH covers, but I'd always take the originals over these renditions any day. Another thing I'm not very fond of with this record is the production, largely due to the guitar tone. The drums can also be on the unnatural side, but they do pack a punch, and you can hear the bass well. The guitar is really crisp and clinical though, and it gives off a weird sort of subtle grit that just doesn't fit the raw nature of many of the songs covered (notably Discharge, Celtic Frost, and so on). It actually is sort of a rugged guitar tone, but in an unnaturally dry and electronic sounding manner, it's not warm at all. The layout really sucks. That whole army stencil font looks lame, the visuals suck... it just looks dumb. I love the fact that they included liner notes from the band regarding each song and why they chose 'em, though. That's a pretty cool touch. They waste a lot of space in the booklet since it's just text over a black background, but what the hell. This is a decent disc, and if you actually like Pro-Pain you might be into this, but I don't know... they don't run with the concept enough to make it interesting, sans the select few tracks discussed above. (5/10)
Running time - 39:55, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: The Crowd, 100%, Terpentin, Your Mistake]
Spitfire Records - http://www.spitfirerecords.com

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