Like most people, I thought that the tragic death of Dave Williams, the band's vocalist, would send this act to oblivion. Gladly enough I saw them rising from their ashes with a new growler behind the microphone, Jason Gong Jones. I guess the lyrics of Step Up are quite self-explanatory regarding the band's stand towards difficulties:
I'm never gonna stop I'm never gonna drop
Ain't no different than it was before
So take some good advice
You better stop and think twice
Before you take your first step out that door
Hell yeah! Time to kick ass and chew bubble gum! Those of you who might not recall, Dave Williams was found dead in the band's tour bus on August 14th of 2002 and the band's official statement was ...passed away from natural causes, specifically Heart Cardiomyopathy, Concentric Left Ventricular Hypertrophy. It's hard to believe that the monster screaming Let the bodies hit the floor had a faint heart. With Desensitized Drowning Pool take no bullshit from the start. Just check the raunchy front cover: one of my beloved porn stars (hahaha), Jesse Jane, wearing a bikini with inverted pentagrams and holding a bat... what more can a man want in life?
The album is a fine example of Nu-Metal. Powerful and aggressive or down to earth and melodic when necessary. Radio friendly with amazing tunes like Step Up or Forget. My favorite however is the amazing mid tempo semi ballad Love And War where Jones proves to be (like in many occasions in this album) a really good vocalist, able to handle both melodic lines and growls. Also quite impressive is the fact that Drowning Pool still remain quite venomous when it comes to lyrics. Just check out the last track, Hate, if you don't believe me.
The production is quite typical for the genre with extra attention given to the double vocal lines. In its 39 minutes of running time Desensitized kept my interest really high. It's always good to see such bands staying alive in the mainstream circle of Nu-Metal.