reviewed by
Jackie Tirey
Indiana Daily Student

CD Review - April 14, 1999

VIDEODRONE
Videodrone
Reprise/Elementree

You have to wonder what message Korn/Limp Bizkit prodigy Videodrone was trying to convey when the members named the band. Is the name paying homage to the movie of the same name, or is it they knew its style isn't much different than the drones who have v ideos on MTV? With lyrics such as Some things are better left unsaid / some things are better forgotten, you have to wonder.

Videodrone appears on Korn's Elementree label, along with Orgy. That's not surprising after listening to the 12-track album. The band's sound draws heavily from the 1980s new wave sound Orgy tries to emulate, and is horribly unsuccessful in trying to brea the new life into the sound. At least Orgy borrowed straight from New Order with "Blue Monday." Videodrone settles for rephrasing with "Alone with 20 Bucks": You tell me how to think/You tell me how to feel.

Empty lyrics mar the entire album. Videodrone half-heartedly tries to shock the listener with The cement floor / The garage door/Screwdrivers, fingers inside her/down on all fours from "Power Tools for Girls," but it doesn't work. Lead singer Ty Elam trie s to make the listener enter a world of pain, suffering and apathy, but the music and lyrics fall flat.

Videodrone gets some help from Korn's Jonathan Davis on the first track "Ty Jonathan Down." Davis' voice completely drowns out Elam -- which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's Davis' vocals that add an element of originality to the song. Limp Bizkit's Fr ed Durst takes over on "Human Pinata," a song that has Limp Bizkit's and Korn's stamp all over it. Durst's appearance doesn't benefit "Pinata" the way Davis helps "Down," but it still saves the vocals somewhat. Elam on his own is nothing spectacular.

Neither is the band's music. The style is the bastard child of New Wave and Marilyn Manson -- a notion Elam tries to refute in "L.S.D. (Lucifer's Stained Dress)" when he sings So wake me up take me in / I'm not Marilyn Manson/I'm just a guy who's got it in for you.

"Pigs in a Blanket," a rap/metal hybrid, comes into the album out of nowhere and jars the listener out of the coma the music induces. It's better when Elam's vocals aren't there, and someone else is taking over the lyrics. Even the accompanying music come s alive away from Elam's voice. "Pigs" and "Faceplant" are the only tracks that don't completely bore the listener. The other songs are throwaways.