I’m pretty much a novice when it comes to the Psychopathic family of music. I listened to my first Insane Clown Posse album a little more than a month ago and while I don’t prescribe to the fanaticism or the dress code I can see why so many of my friends are into this brand of music.
My buddy Ian is a huge fan and has loaned me quite a bit of material about ICP and their stable of musical acts. While I can’t say that all of them are good (or even worth listening to) I have become something of a fan of Twiztid.
The new album from Twiztid, W.I.C.K.E.D. Sounds like a horror movie in musical form. The usual instruments of horror films like blood and knives and decapitations are transformed pretty effectively into lyrics and notes over the course of fifteen tracks. The majority of the songs are about the Psychopathic Records staples of murder and mayhem but underneath the sometimes uninspired lyrics are metal guitars and hip hop beats that any musician would envy.
This album tells a story. Its a violent, horrifying story but each song has a place in it. While I appreciate the ambition in a band trying something that is incredibly hard to do and even harder to do well it does fall a little flat in spots. I’ve heard from several sources that W.I.C.K.E.D. Is supposed to be Twiztids darkest album ever and while I think that is true, at times the theme just doesn’t lend itself to good songs. I’ll take them one at a time and add in some audio aids when I can. To get started lets take a look at the lyrics to the mostly spoken word title track.
W.I.C.K.E.D.
Gather we will
Each in search of a thrill
A reason for feeling the needing to kill
To stop what’s happening
To silence the screams
To not be afraid
To sleep and dream
To feel in control and to take it all back
To fall into peace as the sky turns to black
Hope you got what you wanted
This wonderful wish
To kill everyday until nothing exist in the world but you
Your the last one alive
But with no conflict to confront
Will there be a reason to survive
Will the anger just die
Or will you kill that aswell
As you sit all alone in your personal hell
Welcome to the wicked
To wish I could kill everyday
I don’t think this song is quite as pessimistic as it seems. The implication seems to be that conflict makes life worth living while at the same time wishing that conflict could be eradicated. Or maybe they just like to kill mutha fuckas.
Kill With Us
This track feels purposefully schizophrenic and while I understand the thematic reasoning, it kind of made me want to stop listening to the album. Neither of these first two tracks is really a “song” exactly and that’s a problem when trying to lure in a listener. My guess is the assumption here is that anyone listening to this album is already a fan and willing to stick it out. I think that is a bad assumption and one that could hurt them in the future.
Buckets Of Blood
This is the first actual song with verses and a chorus and everything. Unfortunately its not one of the better songs on the album. I know I’ve heard this exact beat before a few years ago. I think it was on a Ludacris album.
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Again the desire to tell a story with the album actually detracts from the music. This track is full of ambient sounds and spoken word bits that make it impossible to just enjoy as a song.
Death Note
Finally the story behind W.I.C.K.E.D. Becomes musical! The intro to this song made me think it was going to just be more of the same but when the first verse begins this album officially gets good. Thankfully this isn’t a lone good song on a bad album, he manages to find some friends.
Krossroads Inn
One of the best songs on the album and my favorite of the W.I.C.K.E.D. Tracks. Dark ominous guitars are joined by haunting female vocals supplied by Ashley Heidrich. She shows up on a bunch of tracks and is a welcome addition to each and every one.
All Of the Above
I’m not a big fan of Blaze ya Dead Homie but he does a great job on this album starting with this track. His vocals seem lost on his own albums but he blends perfectly with Twiztid. For those keeping track, that’s three good songs in a row.
Killing Season
Thus ends the good song streak. This is a good example of those uninspired lyrics coupled with overly repetitive and redundant and repetitive and redundant beats.
Whoop Whoop
This is the most energetic and fun song in the W.I.C.K.E.D. Story. It has so much energy and such a strong hook that this could easily be a dance club anthem if not for all the blood and murder.
That’s Wicked
The interspersed news clips and interviews can’t detract from how good this song is. I would love to hear a version with all the talkie talkie cut out so I could just enjoy the song. As of this point, the CD is at the 50% good mark.
They Told Me
The piano in this song is surprising and seems to oddly blend with the clever lyrics “fuck you mutha fucka”. Another solid track.
My Enemies
These guys rap faster than I can hear. Industrial beats mixed with fuzzy guitars. I would love to see this in a Tony Hawk game.
Bella Morte
I know all the “juggalos” out there will want to string me up for saying this but this song has a really solid pop hook and could easily be turned into a radio single. That’s not a bad thing by the way.
When I Get To Hell
Another banal rap song. When these guys miss, they really miss.
Woe Woe
This is the last track on the regular edition and closes out the W.I.C.K.E.D. Story. This song is a sharp departure from the rest of the album (in a good way) and is about as close to a ballad as these guys get. Its softer, slower and sadder while still being tinged with the anger and despair that permeates the entire album. This is an incredibly strong closing track and honestly makes me forget how bad the album started.
BONUS TRACKS
Catch the Show
This is another song with a really strong pop hook that could easily find its place alongside Eminem and Snoop Dog on Top 40 radio if anyone in the world would give these guys a shot.
Gothic Chick
A love song about a goth chick. Too silly for the concept album but a fantastic bonus track. Both of these tracks are catchy and a lot of fun to listen to.
It Don’t Stop
This is just a flat out great Twiztid song that just didn’t fit the W.I.C.K.E.D. Theme.
I used to be big into ICP and the Psychopathic family, wouldn’t consider myself one of the hardcore obsessed juggalos though. I still enjoy them, and still listen to them, but nowhere near as much as I used to. I do like Twiztid, the Green Book being my favorite album of theirs. I’ve probably become a bigger fan of them than ICP, mostly because people won’t stare at me as much when I play Twiztid in public. Depends on the song, I guess.
Of the songs I tried, Woe Woe was the only listenable one. As for the ICP connection, I certainly don’t hear it. It sounds like generic rap to me whereas ICP had that angry white boy vibe to it.
To Shaun…
Why do you care about other people staring at you? People should fuck off an go to hell.
ur fuckn stupid for even listening to the album if all ur gonna do is diss on it for real keep ur mouth shut …u have to have that feeling in ur stomach and heart for that psycopathic shit to understand it….so fuk off
I am not able to keep my mouth shut about anything. I have a feeling in my heart and stomach for good music. Some of this is good, some isn’t. Stop acting like a raging fucktard.
To Twiztid_Smoke:
It’s Juggalo’s like you that give Juggalo’s like me a bad name. You don’t have the ability to look past how great the group is to see if the music it self is good. I differently than Tommy enjoyed “When I get to Hell” where he didn’t. I however thought that “Krossroads Inn” and “All of the Above” were terrible when he like both of them exeptionably. The point is you can love the Fam all you want, as I do, but don’t be blind and afraid to question and really think about the quality of the music your hearing.
P.S. While pondering this point think about ICP’s “The Calm” EP. I love ICP but if you really think that The Calm is anything more than Psychopathic’s worst release ever, and quite possibly one of the worst rap album’s ever, your fucking insane…
and not the good insane, like a posse of clowns insane…
to say i am a fan of twiztid is a bit of an overstatement. I enjoyed House of Krazees quite bit back in the day and thought mostasteless was an awesome album minus the tracks that featured ICP (who really went downhill after ’98). For the most part twiztid’s music has failed to impress since those days. That is not to say that there arent a few tracks on every album that are tolerable (save for the piece of crap that was mutant). And i would say that Green Book was generally a step in the right direction and Independent’s Day was a decent concept if not executed poorly on certain tracks. All that being said I would have to say W.I.C.K.E.D. is the best album they have ever done under the name twiztid. This is mainly because they don’t say juggalo every other word and shout out to “the fam” on every track. That concept has been played out enough on the rest of the psychopathic library and quite frankly is one of the reasons i can only stand a handful of tracks off of any of their albums anymore.
This album is all horror inspired which it should be… this is horrorcore after all, only with great production values and better than average lyrical skill. Some of these tracks even give me HOK flashbacks.
In interviews, monoxide is saying that they are tired of performing their old stuff at shows and that this is the beginning of a new era for twiztid. I personally have high hopes for what comes next. Hopefully they’ll continue to leave the juggalo shoutouts to their less talented/inspired label mates.
Just one man’s opinion. Peace.
ok im say this flat out. im tired of hearin ppl say tht ICP is crap. yall just dont see the message. there is a message behind EVERY song.. so b4 you ppl keep talkin think bout it wen you listenin to one of their songs.
mcl
-LiL ReBAL
tks for the effort you put in here I appreciate it!
Blah blah blah, wordy ridiculous nonsense, I am smarter than you, etc. etc. etc.