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Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild CKY Island Records, 2002
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Reviewed by Vinnie Apicella
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CKY -- an acronym for Camp Kill Yourself -- have been garnering high praise from fans and critics the world over for being this innovative underground phenomenon bore of a DIY ethic and ol' schooler mentality. Playing with reckless abandon, CKY's Volume 1 turned a lot of heads, nearly twisting them off with their circuitous jaunts in and out of R & R expectancy, often losing hold of traditional song structures by way of turbulent flight patterns crisscrossing genres at a moment's indiscretion. And -- surprise -- they've figured out the game of self-promotion. First, jump up and over the mighty Jackass series-gone-big-screen-legend, become the soundtrack to the self-injurious, then speak out against authority and there it is; the big secret to success: Tell kids not to accept direction. Works every time. And when you've got major label backing that's caught on to this authoritative role reversal thing, it isn't hard to see how a band that started in West Chester, PA in 1998 sells 100,000 copies -- and presumably way more this go round. They've got it together on Infiltrate Destroy Rebuild, with ten mostly solid tracks, though I can never comprehend ending an album with a ballad. CKY is a forward-thinking retrograde outfit with a voice, vision and an off the wall mentality to go for broke and still end up rich. "Escape From Hellview" is like the next phase of their monster "96 Still Bitter Beings" sleeper hit from the last record, and yeah, there's no mistaking that guttural guitar sound that leads the way. Deron Miller and Chad Ginsburg have the rhythmic riff tradeoffs and timing to their playing not heard since Soundgarden stepped out. So, on the one hand, "Escape," "Flesh Into Gear," or "Attached At The Hip," a quickie with another infectious verse, lend themselves to modern guitar Rock, "Frenetic Amnesic" and "Plastic Plan" take a catchier means for fleshing out mainstream viability (Pop? You didn't hear it from me.) with the static, insurgent "Sporadic Movement" coming away with both fists in the air. Few bands are bold enough to back up words based on revising Rock music and changing methods of tradition which today reads as a done-to-death Rock/Rap hybrid and Punk/Pop/Emo discourse hailed as some victorious variety. But when you've got five or six hundred of them doing it? Yeah, CKY -- obviously inspired by the ol' Ozzy logo -- builds well on a two-decade insight that first led to the emergence of true Rock and Metal musicianship played with spirit and a two shits to the wind philosophy that's a proven success to the point of the inevitable intrusion of the unoriginal. | February 2003
Vinnie Apicella is a full time freelancer, freeloader and Columbia student where he's a Writing major and spends much of his time impersonating intellectual types with a better GPA than his. Future goals include: designing a Web site, buying a house, relearning 80s rock guitar, writing a book, finally getting paid from Billboard for the Earshot article, regaining a social life and opening a pub in the English countryside. |
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