aglasshouse Ungod is the debut album by the Chicago-formed American industrial metal act, Stabbing Westward, released in 1993. Being the first release by the band since their 1990 demo release of "Iwo Jima", the band had taken very much time to develop a sound that appealed to them. A three year gap in recordings may seem a little ridiculous; I sure thought it was when I did some research on the band, but after listening to the album I have come to release that it was time very well spent.

After a few years of me listening to acts like Godflesh, Pitchshifter and Ministry, I have come to know industrial metal as an extremely experimental genre, with several different sounds and tempo fluctuations that coincide with heavy metal guitars and bass (along with other instruments). But the main thing I gathered was that metal was embedded into the techno-like experimenting to make for still brutal but more artful grace in the way it was played. Much of industrial metal boils down to a computerized lead on a rotund and often dark metallic richness. Stabbing Westward takes it a bit differently.

In fact, this album is on the verge of being alternative metal, because it's less electronic rhythms combined with metal, and more heavy metal that use different electronics to help the guitars and other instruments along, filling in gaps that they wouldn't usually fill alone. It's very interesting to listen to not traditional industrial all the time- sometimes a more commercialized, streamlined approach is in fact the best way.

Some highlights of the album that I would suggest is 'Lies', with very angry lyrics mixed with industrial, very cliche but it is a very familiar territory for the genre. 'Throw' succeeds it, and is actually much better. Industrial experimentation has gone down quite a few notches to make way for heavier chords and bass/drum lines, but is quite good. 'Violent Mood Swings' takes the cake for my favorite song on the album and perhaps by this artist. It combines experimentation and quick riffing to make for a piece that is just right on the ears. The fantastic album closer 'Can't Happen Here' brings a more instrumental piece as opposed to an angry, heavy, and pounding one. Although it might seem a little 'mainstream', it is enjoyable, as I said before, if you use an open mind while listening.

Given the throngs of industrial metal artists I wouldn't criticize someone to need a lot of a push to give something like this a chance. But in earnest I would highly suggest you give a listen to these guys. They are definitely worth their salt.

Warthur Here is a tragic example of a band frittering away everything when they should have been at the height of their game. In interviews leading up to the release of this one, the band would note how they'd added all these industrial effects and screams and so forth, but said that they felt that this simply made their songs ugly and obscured their inner beauty. This new release would be the real Stabbing Westward - the band simply writing what they felt like, irrespective of fan expectations.

There were two absolutely enormous problems with this approach. Firstly, however you parse that statement from them it seemed to confirm everything anyone had ever said about Stabbing Westward being shallow or insincere. Either they were telling the truth in the interview and they'd never really "felt" their distinctive industrial rock sound, in which case they'd been bullshitters all along, or they weren't being honest in the interview and they were simply changing their sound in response to the commercial tide shifting away from industrial rock, in which case they had become bullshitters now.

The other big problem is that their brand new sound - you know, the one which was supposed to be Stabbing Westward simply playing what was in their hearts without any consideration of fan expectations or commercial demands? Well, as it turned out, it sounded suspiciously like radio-friendly, commercial alternative rock of the most bland and inoffensive sorts.

The lesson embodied in this album is simple. If you are going to throw away your signature sound, make sure you're replacing it with a sound that's exciting enough to be worth the risk.

Warthur This sumptuous feast of gothy industrial rock may well be Stabbing Westward's finest hour. They still obviously take a lot of influence from Nine Inch Nails, but there's a genuineness of emotion underpinning the album which had been lacking in some of their earlier work; the band really convince you that they believe in what they are doing here. Lead singer Chris Hall, in particular, doesn't seem to worry too much as to whether he's mastering his Trent Reznor impersonation but simply sings from the heart. The classic problem of long albums (this one runs for over 64 minutes) - namely, filler - is avoided this time around and the end result is a career high point.

Warthur Stabbing Westward got away with shameless Nine Inch Nails worship on their debut album, but this second release was really the time for them to assert a distinct identity of their own and they don't quite manage it. Although little musical growth over Ungod is shown, and whilst some songs tend to plod along (I Don't Believe is kind of terrible as an album opener in this respect because it doesn't establish any momentum) when the album is on form it's an enjoyable evocation of the experience of being a spoiled teenager in the 1990s. Enjoyable, but not as deep or meaningful as the lyrics are trying to be.

Warthur Let's not mince words: this is an album which owes an incredible amount to Nine Inch Nails, to the point where some might accuse Stabbing Westward of being a mere clone band on the basis of this album. However, Stabbing Westward offer a somewhat different emphasis this time around when you compare this to Trent Reznor's work from around that period: it's more melodic, and yes, at points a bit more commercial, but at the same time there are some intriguing instrumental passages influenced by 1980s gothic rock (such as on the excellent album closer Can't Happen Here) which, despite being solidly in the industrial rock camp, nonetheless doesn't quite feel like what NIN were producing at the time. A promising beginning.