Pretend I'm Human

Last updated
Pretend I'm Human
Pretend I'm Human.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 13, 1999
RecordedMarch–April 1999
StudioMad Dog (Burbank, California)
Length42:37
Label Ng
Producer Neil Perry
Orange 9mm chronology
Ultraman Vs. Godzilla
(1998)
Pretend I'm Human
(1999)

Pretend I'm Human is the third and final album by the American band Orange 9mm, released on July 13, 1999. [1] [2] It was a commercial disappointment. [3] Pretend I'm Human was rereleased in 2021. [4]

Contents

The band supported it by playing the 1999 Warped Tour; they also toured with Machine Head. [5] [6]

Production

Recorded in California, Pretend I'm Human was produced by Neil Perry. [7] [8] The band abandoned all of its demoed songs once they were in the studio, opting instead to start over. [9] Vocalist Chaka Malik played bass on the album. [10] The lyrics to many of the songs touch on themes of societal power dynamics and class. [11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 6/10 [13]
In Music We Trust B– [14]
PopMatters 8.5/10 [15]
See Magazine Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [16]
Winnipeg Sun Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [17]

Exclaim! wrote that "Touching Skies" "may be the best, if not the only, rap-metal power ballad ever." [18] The Telegram & Gazette deemed the album the band's best yet, praising the "rap-inspired grooves, sharper dynamic shifts and overall better chops." [8] The Arizona Daily Star determined that Malik's "words are racy enough to turn a sailor incarnadine, yet his rap is fantastically caustic poetry." [11]

The New York Post noted that Orange 9mm "is still their hard-core selves on this 10-song collection, which taps hip-hop, industrial and good old-fashioned Stairway-to-Hell metal." [19] The Winnipeg Sun concluded that the "NYC trio manages to weld heavy riffs and hip-hop rhythms without getting them all over each other." [17] The San Diego Union-Tribune stated that "the lurching guitars in the Fugazi-like 'Lifeless', the explosive title track and even the slow build-up in 'Touching Skies', a rather preachy song about self-determination, have a raw, punk edge to them that you won't find in other so-called new metal bands." [20]

AllMusic wrote that, "even if Malik has a better lyrical flow than most rap-metal singers, the results tend to sound stiff and forced when there are no funky backing rhythms for him to play off of." [12] In 2021, Decibel called Pretend I'm Human "extraordinarily eclectic," noting that the reissue "brings the guitars to the fore [to] make it a perfect ahead-of-its-time candidate for reevaluation." [21]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."When You Lie"3:01
2."Lifeless"3:41
3."Facelift"4:11
4."Touching Skies"4:57
5."Pretend I'm Human"3:48
6."Dragons (You Know I Love You)"5:33
7."Innocence"7:01
8."Alien"3:30
9."Tightrope"5:11
10."Day One"1:44
Total length:42:37

Related Research Articles

Nu metal is a subgenre of alternative metal that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu metal rarely features guitar solos or other displays of musical technique; the genre is heavily syncopated and based on guitar riffs. Many nu metal guitarists use seven-string guitars that are down-tuned to produce a heavier sound. DJs are occasionally featured in nu metal to provide instrumentation such as sampling, turntable scratching and electronic background music. Vocal styles in nu metal include singing, rapping, screaming and growling. Nu metal is one of the key genres of the new wave of American heavy metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cephalic Carnage</span> American deathgrind band

Cephalic Carnage is an American deathgrind band formed in Denver, Colorado in 1992. The band comprises vocalist Leonard Leal, guitarists Steve Goldberg and Brian Hopp, drummer John Merryman and bassist Nick Schendzielos. Cephalic Carnage has released six studio albums and toured in North America, Europe and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godflesh</span> English industrial metal band

Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the original title O.P.D. but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick and B. C. Green renamed the band and decided to use a drum machine for percussion. Melding heavy metal with industrial music and later with electronic music and dub, Godflesh's sound is widely regarded as a foundational influence on other industrial metal and post-metal acts and as significant to both experimental and extreme metal.

<i>Calculating Infinity</i> 1999 studio album by the Dillinger Escape Plan

Calculating Infinity is the debut studio album by American metalcore band the Dillinger Escape Plan. Recorded at Trax East Recording Studio in South River, New Jersey, it was produced by engineer Steve Evetts with the band's guitarist Ben Weinman and drummer Chris Pennie, and released on September 28, 1999, by Relapse Records. Calculating Infinity is the band's only full-length album to feature original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, who left the band in 2001.

<i>Blackwater Park</i> 2001 studio album by Opeth

Blackwater Park is the fifth studio album by Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. It was released on March 12, 2001, in Europe and a day later in North America through Music for Nations and Koch Records. The album marks the first collaboration between Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson and the band, as Wilson had been brought in to produce the album. This contributed to a shift in Opeth's musical style. The songs "The Drapery Falls" and "Still Day Beneath the Sun" were released as singles.

<i>Dopethrone</i> 2000 studio album by Electric Wizard

Dopethrone is the third studio album by British metal band Electric Wizard, released on 25 September 2000 by Rise Above Records. Following the release and tour of their previous studio album Come My Fanatics... (1997), the group was asked by Rise Above owner Lee Dorrian to create a follow-up. Vocalist and guitarist Jus Oborn has stated that drug issues and other personal problems led to the production of Dopethrone being a "difficult process". The group entered Chuckalumba Studios in May 2000 with only three tracks written: "Dopethrone", "Funeralopolis", and "We Hate You". The album was recorded in three days. Oborn, who wrote all of the album's lyrics, spoke of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard as influences in his own writing while the group disagreed during the mixing sessions about how the overall record should sound. The music on the album has been described as both doom metal and stoner rock, with influences of British groups like Black Sabbath and Motörhead.

<i>We Are the Romans</i> 1999 studio album by Botch

We Are the Romans is the second and final studio album by American metalcore band Botch. It was originally released in November 1999 through Hydra Head Records. Since its release, it has been seen as an influential album on metalcore and hardcore music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Traynor</span> American musician

Chris Traynor is an American musician, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bush since 2001. Prior to Bush, he started in the post-hardcore scene with Fountainhead and Orange 9mm. “I got a publishing and record deal when I was nineteen, just super young.” Traynor had an on and off stint with Helmet while overlapping his Gavin Rossdale based projects of Bush, Institute, and Gavin Rossdale's solo album. Traynor played in two bands with his partner Sibyl Buck, Champions of Sound and High Desert Fires.

<i>Hymns</i> (Godflesh album) 2001 studio album by Godflesh

Hymns is the sixth studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 23 October 2001 through Music for Nations and was the band's final album before breaking up in 2002. In 2010, Godflesh reformed and in 2014 released their comeback album A World Lit Only by Fire. Hymns had a troubled production and was intended to be distinct departure from Godflesh's intensely regimented industrial sound to something more traditionally hard rock. It was the band's second and final album to feature a live drummer rather than a drum machine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange 9mm</span> American post-hardcore band

Orange 9mm is an American post-hardcore band from New York City formed in 1994 by Chaka Malik and Chris Traynor after the breakup of Malik's band Burn.

Burn is an American hardcore punk band formed in 1989. After releasing four EPs across three decades, Burn released its first full-length album Do or Die through Deathwish Inc. in 2017.

<i>Souls at Zero</i> 1992 studio album by Neurosis

Souls at Zero is the third studio album by the American post-metal band Neurosis. It was released in 1992 by the Alternative Tentacles record label. It was reissued in 1999 with bonus tracks on the band's own Neurot Recordings label. On February 15, 2010, the album was reissued on CD and digitally with new artwork by Neurot. On February 14, 2012, a fully remastered version was released on vinyl by Relapse Records. The album was inducted into Decibel Magazine's Hall of Fame in August 2016.

<i>Weeville</i> 1990 studio album by Tall Dwarfs

Weeville is an album by New Zealand band Tall Dwarfs, released in 1990. It was the band's first album, after almost a decade of EP-only releases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portal (band)</span> Australian extreme metal band

Portal is an Australian extreme metal band whose style is an unorthodox fusion of death metal, black metal, dark ambient and experimental music. The band's hybrid musical style is characterised by heavily distorted guitar riffs, down-tuned rhythms, and vocals ranging from "menacing, echoing" sound effects to death grunts.

<i>Jerusalem</i> and <i>Dopesmoker</i> 1999 studio album by Sleep

Jerusalem and Dopesmoker are two versions of the third studio album by the American stoner doom band Sleep. The former title was released in 1999 by The Music Cartel and the latter was released by Tee Pee Records in 2003. The music for these albums comprises an extended hour-length piece, developed over four years and recorded in 1996 under the auspices of Sleep's label at the time, London Records. When recording had completed, London was unhappy with the finished product and refused to release it, leading to Sleep's disbandment and the album surfacing on bootlegs and unauthorized indie releases in subsequent years. All versions of the album received very positive reception from music critics, who described it as a high-water mark in both the stoner metal and doom metal genres.

<i>Hate</i> (Thy Art Is Murder album) 2012 studio album by Thy Art Is Murder

Hate is the second studio album by Australian deathcore band Thy Art Is Murder. The album was released on 19 October 2012, through Halfcut Records, but was reissued on 5 April 2013, through Nuclear Blast after the band signed to the label. The album debuted at no. 35 on the ARIA Charts, making Thy Art Is Murder the first extreme metal band ever to break the top 40. The album also reached no. 1 on AIR and peaked at 31 on the Top Heatseekers chart. On 31 March 2013, Metal Hammer began streaming the album in full, in anticipation of the Nuclear Blast re-release. It is the band's only album with guitarist Tom Brown, as well as the first album on which current guitarist Sean Delander plays bass.

<i>Driver Not Included</i> 1995 studio album by Orange 9mm

Driver Not Included is the debut studio album by American rock band Orange 9mm. It was released on February 14, 1995 through EastWest Records. Considered as a landmark release in 1990's New York hardcore scene, the album incorporates influences from funk and heavy metal.

<i>Tragic</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Orange 9mm

Tragic is the second studio album by the American rock band Orange 9mm. Produced by Dave Sardy of Barkmarket, it was released on July 23, 1996, through Atlantic Records. Guitarist Chris Traynor recorded most of the bass parts, replacing David Gentile, who was replaced by Taylor McLam near the end of the recording sessions. Traynor departed not long after the album's release, ending up joining Helmet (band).

References

  1. "Orange 9MM". Perfect Sound Forever.
  2. Sciarretto, Amy (June 21, 1999). "Must Hear". CMJ New Music Report . Vol. 59, no. 623. p. 3.
  3. Blush, Steven (October 4, 2016). New York Rock: From the Rise of the Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN   9781250083623.
  4. "Hear Orange 9mm's New Remaster of Rare Final Album 'Pretend I'm Human'". Revolver. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  5. Catlin, Roger (11 July 1999). "Also expected in record stores this week". Hartford Courant. p. G10.
  6. Skierka, Tom (15 Oct 1999). "Rockin' with energy Clones? Wannabes? Maybe, but these bands are more than noise". Weekend. The Spokesman-Review. p. 8.
  7. "Orange 9MM". Juice. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  8. 1 2 McLennan, Scott (12 Aug 1999). "The sun has yet to set on the Summer of Metal...". Telegram & Gazette. p. C5.
  9. "Matthew Cross: Orange 9MM's Stickman Is No Pretender". Modern Drummer. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  10. Sharpe-Young, Garry (May 21, 2005). New Wave of American Heavy Metal. Zonda Books Limited. ISBN   9780958268400.
  11. 1 2 Purdy, Jim (October 1, 1999). "Orange 9mm target fat cats". Arizona Daily Star. p. 32E.
  12. 1 2 "Pretend I'm Human". AllMusic.
  13. Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 328. ISBN   978-1-894959-62-9.
  14. Steininger, Alex (August 1999). "Orange 9MM: Pretend I'm Human". In Music We Trust . Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  15. Benton, Michael. "Orange 9MM, Pretend I'm Human". PopMatters . Archived from the original on 2000-10-04. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  16. Lingley, Scott (August 19, 1999). "Spins". See Magazine . No. 299. p. 11 via Internet Archive.
  17. 1 2 "Discs". Winnipeg Sun. August 6, 1999. p. F17.
  18. "Orange 9mm Pretend I'm Human". Exclaim!.
  19. Aquilante, Dan (June 29, 1999). "Pretend I'm Human; Orange 9MM". News. New York Post.
  20. Niesel, Jeff (August 26, 1999). "Rock: Orange 9MM". Entertainment. The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. 9.
  21. "Pranic Power: Chaka Malik on Orange 9MM reissues, Burn, Ghost Decibels, & the Prophecy and Peace Found in Extreme Art". Decibel. Retrieved 21 May 2022.