Hollywood Undead

Day Of The Dead

Written by: PP on 08/09/2015 00:06:29

So it turns out we skipped 2013's "Notes From The Underground" on the grounds that 2011's "American Tragedy" didn't warrant any further critical dissection of Hollywood Undead. At that point it was blatantly obvious they're in it for the money and the fame as a completely willing party in a transparent major label money scheme no different from the likes of Nicky Minaj and Justin Bieber that most real fans of music steer clear from in autopilot-like fashion. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, Hollywood Undead seem to be gaining popularity as opposed to the catastrophic spiral into ridicule that Limp Bizkit experienced. Which is fucking weird, considering Hollywood Undead mostly make Limp Bizkit look pretty good in comparison.

"Day Of The Dead" is the fourth full-length by the rap/'rock' group. I use the term 'rock' in the loosest of meanings because despite the occasional distorted guitars and vocals borrowed from "Meteora"-era Linkin Park (hello, "Usual Suspects"), Hollywood Undead are basically hanging by their fingernails from the genre during all other songs but the singles where they try to appeal to as wide of an audience as possible. It's a cynical precision-guided assault at the ignorant teenagers that redefines a new low for the 'rock' music industry.

Let's dissect the club track "War Child" instead because it's more symptomatic of the rest of the album, by quoting a few "lyrics" from the "song":

"Then haters try to get they hate on. But I'm too sexy, I'm like "ooh". I'm in the club, I'mma party like a war child. I'm getting drunk, yeah, I party like a war child"

Party like a war child? You mean like children, who are refugees of war? Or perhaps children who are used in war as soldiers? What the fuck are you even saying? I'm pretty sure neither group ever feels 'sexy' nor 'parties' given their miserably horrible lives. Using lines like these merely underlines how tasteless Hollywood Undead are. Skip to the next song "Dark Places" and you run into this:

That guy's cockier than shit / Like a guy with six cocks / And I can't stop saying dick / Dick, dick and then cock / Hick-a-dickery-dick-a-dick-a-dickery-dock [...] Like your mom on a cock

It's like poetry.

You could argue, of course, that such juvenile lyricism is symptomatic of the hip-hop culture at large, but then again their lyricism within tracks that qualify as rock music isn't much better. "Take Me Home", which barely fits that description, mostly consists of repeated lines and few real lines despite being almost four minutes long. It's awful, you thought, until "Gravity" exploits yet another trend by bringing in disco beats and 80s references with faded-back electronics during its verses. Shameless.

I could go on, but it's pointless. There are some catchy tracks but they come at a cost of losing all integrity for music and accepting this worthless drivel at its face value: pure entertainment made with dollar signs in eyes directed at the most exploitable segment in the music industry: the thirteen year old teenagers that just don't know better yet.

It's safe to say that if you like this, you probably don't really like music other than as passing background entertainment in a club-like setting. A Disturbed record probably qualifies as heavy metal for you and a Thrice record as music for nerds. Either way, this magazine offers nothing for you. Fuck off.

2

Download: Usual Suspects, Day Of The Dead
For the fans of: Nicky Minaj, Justin Bieber, Brokencyde, 3oh!3,
Listen: Facebook

Release date 31.03.2015
Interscope Records

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