Limp Bizkit- TheUnquestionable Truth,Part One

Wed 18th May, 2005 in Music Reviews

The Clash. Rage Against the Machine.  U2.  System of a Down.  Our own Midnight Oil.  The list of bands that have genuinely mixed politics with rock well is small.  It is not a surprise that the band who rose to fame on the back of a George Michael cover fail to make the grade.

Completely lacking both the power and the passion that made bands like the Oils and Rage Against the Machine so great, Limp Bizkit plod through seven tracks of politically motivated rap metal.  What makes album number five The Unquestionable Truth, Part One so much worse than the band’s previous efforts is the fact that songs like Break Stuff and Rollin’ sounded like a band who knew they were only slightly more evolved than their Neanderthal ancestors.

That’s why it makes one cringe to hear Fred Durst singing ‘I see priests molesting children, I see terrorists blowing up buildings’ on The Priest, a track about- you guessed it- Catholic priests abusing children- if you hadn’t already guessed it, Fred has decided that he is some sort of social commentator; a Bruce Springsteen for the baggy pants generation. But perhaps such a comparison is unfair to Durst and co, after all, the peak of his songwriting extends to the truly insightful line ‘everything is fucked, everybody sucks’ circa 1999. Things don’t improve with The Key, the albums token hip hop interlude, or The Surrender, the truly horrendous closing ballad. 

Unfortunately, we’re not all 13 anymore. Unfortunately, Durst still acts like he is.  Basic rhyming and his limited vocabulary won’t change the world. This is truly awful stuff, and what’s worse- the title suggests a sequel is on the way. If anyone has Fred’s number, could you enquire about the possibility of me getting the last twenty nine minutes of my life back?