DROPOUT KINGS

AudioDope

Napalm
rating icon 4.5 / 10

Track listing:

01. Something Awful
02. Burn1
03. Going Rogue (featuring Landon Tewers)
04. Been a Bad Day
05. 503
06. Nvm
07. Scratch & Claw
08. 20 Heads
09. Street Sharks
10. AudioDope


"Man, I wish LIMP BIZKIT was back," said someone, apparently.

Plant a sextet of Arizona millennials into a would-be Compton plot, boasting a "don't give no fucks" attitude and dressed in letterman jackets like Archie Andrews's Red Circle avenger jock squad (other times running like Southside Serpents) on "Riverdale", and you have DROPOUT KINGS. You said you were glad nu-metal died? Wake up on the wrong side of any ugly nightmare, suckas, it's baaaaaaack...

What's the upgrade to a nu-metal revival, if such a thing can be stomached once again now that most of its original audience has grown up and assimilated into the collective hive? Hashtagging, for one, as in #numetalrevoltion. Consider yourself checked. Unfortunately, what DROPOUT KINGS may bring in the way of a slight modern polish to a long-dead vibe, the band offers nothing substantial in its raps, since much of it comes from the same chocolate starfish-dropped swirls Fred Durst drew inspiration from.

The bass-busting digibeat skulking behind the rap of "Something Awful" leaves you either taking the song's title as gospel at face value, or, if you're the right age with enough untamed machismo, it'll be your new backseat jam. The boisterous spike in guitars and the elevated screaming on "Something Awful" are about all that quantifies as metal, nu or whatevs.

Every generation needs its own daily-do bitch-a-thon jam. For those who rolled with this noise the first time around, LIMP BIZKIT's "Break Shit" was the rally cry. DROPOUT KINGS in turn drops not one, but two back-to-back fuck-work bellyaches, "Been a Bad Day" and "503". Real shit, fuck it 9 to 5. Yeah, seriously, fuck it.

"Scratch & Claw" is one of the few genuinely crafted and wholly played songs on the album, Rob Sebastian's gnarly bass groove and an organic beat from Trevor Norgren gives the album a breath of fresh air—even if what this cut becomes is a rap-flavored take on emo. "20 Heads" is closer in execution to PRIMER 55, though obvious Fred Durst worship lights up the song's mike-dogging tripe. Feel the combined keyboard and string-flung bass of "Street Sharks" quake your ear canals, or simply check out and drop some DEFTONES, one of the few bands escaping the nu-metal era and thriving with all of its cred firmly intact.

If anything, this stuff has better production than the late nineties rap rock that was miscalculated as a potential carryover vibe into the new millennium. To be fair, the raps here are dropped sharply, the rapid plugs on "Nvm" are a standout. Problem is, nu metal went away for a reason. While DROPOUT KINGS is having an obvious blast attempting to resuscitate this ungodly racket, they have an uphill battle finding new ears, since hip-hop and rap are independently annihilating metal in sales figures—the few traceable duckets actually brimming out there. Some tour dates opening for OTEP ought to swing new disciples to DROPOUT KINGS, God help us.

Author: Ray Van Horn, Jr.
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).