August 22, 2000 - L.D. 50

A month after my last release and a long three years since their debut EP "Kill, I Oughtta", Mudvayne released their first album "L.D. 50" on August 22, 2000. Mudvayne are still playing the same super heavy style of nu-metal as their EP, but with three years of honing their craft and much better recording equipment, this full album is Mudvayne in full force. Drummer Matthew McDonough also plays all the psychedelic keyboards that we'll hear on the several little interludes on this album. Let's see what the new Mudvayne is all about!

The album begins with "Monolith" and it's a short intro song that is extremely trippy with McDonough playing some very psychedelic keyboards that are all over the place, it couldn't possibly be explained properly with words. Overtop of this trippiness a man starts to talk about how hallucinogens such as mushrooms may have been a catalyst for human evolution that vaulted us into the complexities that make us uniquely human. An interesting and trippy soundbite that seems to fit the psychedelic music very nicely. The end leads into the first real song "Dig" and Ryan Martinie kicks in with a wickedly heavy bass riff before Chad Gray unleashes a long scream to start us off and he and everything sound super heavy and awesome. Greg Tribbett's guitar syncs up with Martinie's heavy bass and Gray belts out an awesome first chorus where he sounds great screaming in a lower voice, and occasionally hitting some really high notes. Gray ends up rapping the verse and his spitfire vocals overtop the heavy music sound phenomenal! Everything hits so fucking hard and I think it's impossible not to aggressively headbang to this amazing song. I love when Gray screams "you ain't fucking changing meeeeeeeee" and there is way too much awesomeness in this song to write about it all, and all in under three minutes! What a superb song! They don't let up as they move into track 3 "Internal Primates Forever" and it's main riff is a fair deal slower than the last song, but it's still nice and heavy and Tribbett leads the way with some solid guitar while Martinie continues to play some wicked bass in the background. Gray's vocals are so fucking good as he perfectly mixes everything from high singing to low screaming, fast rapping and holding long screams, he does it all and he does it all really fucking well. The guitars hit so hard the whole way through and Martinie's bass is fucking phenomenal the whole way through. Between the excellent vocals and bass, some pretty sweet guitar and some solid drumming as well, this was another pretty awesome track! I love everything about it and although their debut EP was not bad at all, you can see the vast improvement to how tight and together they are now. The next track is "-1" and Tribbett starts us off with a very light guitar riff and Martinie plays some great light bass that still somehow sounds super good. Gray sings softly overtop and this is a lighter side of Mudvayne we haven't seen yet, but somehow this leads perfectly into a super heavy chorus with Gray sounding great holding lots of long screams. The quiet verse sounds eerie and pretty cool and of course it just makes the chorus sound even heavier. Gray screams a great new part after another round and they end things on a wonderfully heavy note. If this is a "lesser" song, we are in for quite the ride on this 69 minute album! Track 5 was a "single" (I've never heard Mudvayne in the radio so take that with a grain of salt) titled "Death Blooms" and they dive right into a really catchy guitar riff by Tribbett and Martinie of course backs him with some heavy and cool bass. Gray sings softly at first but the verse nicely ramps up as things get heavier and Gray screams quickly. Gray sings in the chorus, but he sounds really good here too as he's a pretty good singer too! After the chorus they fire off in a new direction and it's another fantastic riff with some wicked guitar, bass, drums and some great screams! So much awesomeness! Gray takes over with a new singing part that sounds great and it ends with one hell of a scream and things sound so fucking good (once again)! They make their way beautifully back to the main verse and another cool chorus before Gray nicely finishes things off and after the music stops and we just hear some feedback Gray speaks an epic final bit and the feedback continues into our first interlude, the under-a-minute "Golden Ratio". All we really hear are some keyboards that sound kind of like wind chimes, just going off randomly at slightly different tones. It's trippy but nothing too special as it takes us to track 7 "Cradle" as Tribbett starts up an interesting quiet guitar riff. They give us a taste if the heavy chorus riff, then return to the quiet for the first verse as Gray sings softly and sounds pretty good. They snap into a great heavy chorus with Gray screaming awesomely and from here words do not do proper justice, they just take off and play a bunch more awesome stuff! After several fantastic minutes of heavy bliss they finally return to the quiet verse and the heavy chorus, and then they take off again! So fast, so heavy, so much good stuff by everyone! Yet another phenomenal song! The next track is "Nothing To Gein" and Tribbett leads the way with a softer but still pretty cool guitar riff as Gray sings in a soft voice overtop and he sounds pretty good singing here! McDonough and Martinie come in with a solid rhythm section to match the light mood, but once we reach the chorus everyone turns their dials to heavy. The guitar gets way louder and heavier and Gray switches to screaming in the chorus and it sounds like he's pouring all his emotion into those screams, which sounds pretty fucking good. The second verse takes a very unexpected turn as Tribbett plays some almost funky guitar! It's out of left field, but things sound pretty cool and Martinie's bass backing him is great as well. They jam out this cool new riff for a bit until it too takes a turn for the heavy! The guitar just drops off a cliff and everything sounds pretty sweet here too! As they jam out a couple heavy choruses the guitar shifts back to the softer opening riff, but Gray continues to scream the chorus overtop and this slowly fades out as McDonough's psychedelic keyboards start up once again, meaning we are at another short interlude, this one called "Mutatis Mutandis". This is similar to the other short songs as McDonough plays all kinds of crazy noises that sound very trippy and we hear the same voice as before, and again it's rambling on about psychedelics and the mind. Out of this craziness emerges a drum beat and that is the start of "Everything And Nothing". Some cool bass comes next, then some eerie light guitar, and finally some singing by Gray. Martinie's bass sounds particularly great and as these guys like to do, they snap into a much heavier chorus that makes your head instantly bang. After another cool round Gray starts to rap a fast new verse and he is just spewing some fast and solid vocals. After a bit of jamming this nice new riff they nicely return for a final verse and chorus and then Gray fires off again in a pretty good closing part. The fact that this song is on the lower end of the spectrum (for this album) just shows the high bar Mudvayne have set on this album. Track 11 is "Severed" and they open this six and a half minute song with a pretty catchy guitar riff by Tribbett and Martinie continues to play some wonderful bass that just sounds so cool! Gray's vocals on this song are so beautifully done as he does a spectacular job of mixing his singing and screaming. Everything flows so wonderfully on this track and words don't do proper justice to how smooth, yet heavy everything sounds. There is a quiet part midway through to break things up that isn't all that exciting, but you barely notice since the rest of the song is so awesome! Just another unique and really fucking good song! We've reached another interlude called "Recombinant Resurgence" and it's got the same super trippy noises going on and the same voice is back to tell us about hallucinogens and serotonin this time. It follows the same theme as the other interludes and eventually track 13 "Prod" starts as Tribbett comes in with another cool guitar riff. McDonough is playing some cool drums in the background and of course Martinie adds some great sounding bass. Gray sings for the most part on this song, but he tastefully screams at the most epic moments, and there are a few! I love the stop-and-start chorus and how they just stop in silence for a whole second or two. This whole song is pretty damn epic and even though it's not as much of a headbanger, it's still a really cool song. Up next is "Pharmaecopia" and I'm getting a little tired of writing it, but it's another great bass riff by Martinie and some more cool guitar from Tribbett that lead the way. Gray once again mixes his singing and screaming really well and every one of these non-interlude tracks just hits so hard and sounds so good! All four members play some pretty sweet stuff and all together things sound really good as they weave seamlessly between slower (but still very good) parts and of course some awesome heavy parts. Track 15 is "Under My Skin" and Gray comes in screaming nicely right from the get-go as they bounce right into another pretty sweet and heavy main riff. They jam out a pretty sweet verse and chorus a couple times, then there's a super funky break with some really awesome bass by Martinie! Gray starts to rap super fast overtop and this part sounds incredible! I'm headbanging so hard and they beautifully tie this right back to the main riff to heavily finish things off. There are a bunch of really good songs on this album, and then there's a bunch more REALLY good songs, like this one! The next track is the longest on the album at over seven minutes and it's called "(K)now F(orever)". Tribbett starts up a catchy guitar riff that he puts some really cool spins on, Martinie adds his unique and awesome bass and McDonough plays a nice drum beat for another pretty sweet main riff. Gray sings really nicely overtop and as he does so well he mixes in bits of screaming for great emphasis. The chorus is full screaming and a nice heavy nee riff and these guys are just overflowing with amazing metal music! There is absolutely no let up for this whole seven minute song, they just continue to belt out some pretty wicked stuff the whole way through! The final riff starts to fade as we move into the final song on the album "Lethal Dosage" and it's our final psychedelic side track! It's got the same familiar trippy noises and more ramblings about hallucinogens by our friend the weird voice. This is the longest of these interludes at three minutes, but most of it is just trippy noises and a voice quietly repeating "open your mind". It's a fitting way to wrap things up, though it might be the worst of the interludes because it's too long.

That is the end of "L.D. 50" and I thought it was an absolutely amazing first album by Mudvayne! Their EP was solid, but this brings things to a whole new level with a slew of absolute bangers littered throughout this album. What more can I say about the four guys that I haven't already said? It's crazy that this is their first album, it's going to be really hard to top! But I look forward to see if them try!