Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Rollins Band

Hmm, Nice

Label: Dreamworks Records Release Date: 11/09/2001

mreed by Mark Reed September 18th, 2001

I could almost review this without even listening to it. Ingredients : one LA rock band, plus workaholic singer known for self-loathing. End result – pounding riffs with funk/blues jam, topped off with hoarse, frighteningly sincere screaming and unexceptional lyrics. Sounds like every other band that ever does anything from LA. But what’s missing? Well, gas masks, milliondollarvids, and a rampant desire to franchise everything to death.

Rollins Band. All about The Music. Nothing else. Load in, load out, tour the world, and scream. He certainly doesn’t stop though does Henry. Since 1999 he’s released four spoken word CD’s, four music CD’s, two books, two DVD’s, a VHS video, and toured the world three times - twice with a spoken word show, - once with his band. Workaholic is an understatement.

But to be honest, I really wish I could see a sense of humour in this guy in his music, excepting the much missed “Liar” from his old-era Rollins Band. The musical onslaught, a pounding unrelenting assault of sat-alone-no-girlfriend-music suffers from its unrelenting intensity. There is literally no room to breathe. And the lyrics? Imagine someone pointing the finger at you repeatedly for an hour without letting you say a word.

Excepting one small thing – “Too Much Rock N Roll” – which is the most violent expose of the corrupt, stinking corporate rock scene – and the one that bankrupted Henry Rollins back in 1997 when his former label collapsed. Sadly, thanks to record company politics, the track can only be found on some special versions of the CD. Have a look at the back and make sure it has 14 or 15 songs on before purchase.

What can I say? It’s absolute brilliance – if you like that type of thing – and shows the teenagers exactly what heavy music is at its best – its NOT pop with guitars. It’s NOT Black Sabbath with samplers and facemasks. It doesn’t feature any scratching, rapping, or CGI Videos that ape old James Bond or Kung Fu. Just four men in a room making a noise, with their senses of humour removed.

  • 7
    Mark Reed's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing



Left-arrow

Cosmic Rough Riders

The Pain Inside

Mobback

The Vines at Camden Electric Ballroom, Camden, Thu 19 Feb

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025

  • 106149
  • news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145

    news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143
  • news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141

    news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139
  • Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138

    Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137
  • Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
MORE


    feature


    Discography reassessed: Bright Eyes in perspective

  • 77693
  • feature


    Hi, how are you? DiS meets Daniel Johnston

  • 25941

    news


    Become a Patron of DiS

  • 99507
  • Interview


    Person of the Year 2014: Meredith Graves - Inte...

  • 98657

    Festivals


    How To Organise A Music Festival #1: Best Kept ...

  • 102208
  • feature


    Cursive - Six Recorded Highlights

  • 45147

    DiScussion


    Don't blame Radio 1: How an obsession with stat...

  • 95753
  • review


    Sharon van Etten - Are We There

  • 95658
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND