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The album "Wither Blister Burn & Peel" is one of the hardest, most explosive and experimental albums in industrial music ever recorded. While I prefer Stabbing Westward's third album, Darkest Days, over anything else, I still love this piece of work on a very high level. Ultimately, this is the group's "claim to fame", as their two major release U.S. singles, "Shame" and "What Do I Have To Do?" were spawned from here.
Although Stabbing Westward's newest album, self-titled, is really breaking no new ground (the majority of the band's work is still about the pain that comes through love, divorce, heartbreak, and women who screw you over) this album comes from back when Stabbing Westward's concepts were new to their scene and they were a fresh band. The really hard, loud, and fast-paced songs on here will get your heart racing and adrenaline pumping. "I Don't Believe" is a great opening track, followed by both singles, "Shame" and "What Do I Have To Do?", the latter of which has an obvious techno influence that brings about the mood of the song better.
The closing song, "Slipping Away", as well as "Falls Apart" and "So Wrong" get real bragging rights when it comes to hard-hitting industrial in this aspect. The album also contains a very melodic, very soft portion as well, which is why it's so experimental and such a creative album, back when all of it was a new concept. "Crushing Me" and "Inside You" are both instant classics, but strangely enough, "Why", which is the softest song on the album, seems to be one of the most emotionally charged. All that said, the best song on the album, in my opinion, is "Sleep", which discusses the horrors of rape and incest, based on an ex-girlfriend of the lead singer, Chris Hall. The song is brutal while at the same time melodic and controlled, finding a perfect, almost tear-jerking medium between the two.
If I need say more, all I can say is to BUY THIS ALBUM. The instruments and percussion are amazing, particularly the tribal-like drumming in "Sleep", all of which is enhanced by Chris Hall's lyrics. If you like Nine Inch Nails or some (no one get mad at this one) of Marilyn Manson's stuff, as well as various other industrial groups, check this album out. This CD may be old, and the concept treading some old ground, but if you haven't gotten it yet or need a look back into the past of industrial, definitely get this. Check out the rest of Stabbing Westward's work if this is to your liking.
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Having been over five years(2001/1996) I finnaly rate this cd four stars. The second of comming 4 albums has a certain taste. Its appealing to a wide amount of audiences, from Shame/What do I have to do...to Sleep and Crushing me...But I view it as a semi depressing cd...and its not crap!!!
Rating:  -
I'll admit, I like "Shame" and "What Do I Have to Do? but the rest of the album is pretty much filler and useless to me. Industrial? Heck no! I wouldn't lump Stabbing Westward with the likes of the late KMFDM, Razed In Black, the Electric Hellfire Club and Frontline Assembly. Pseudo industrial bands like Stabbing Westward and Gravity Kills give industrial music a band reputation with their poor attempts at sounding hard and angst ridden. Stabbing Westward would be eaten alive and spit out if they ever crossed the path of real industrial bands such as the Electric Hellfire Club.
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this is an AMAZING album from the ROCKING opener I DONT BELIEVE thru the third BLISTERING GEM called WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO. if you like this band then i HIGHLY recommend thuis album. for an industrial band this band displays some impressive emotion in their songs. this album is worth it for many reasons. songs 1-3 for starters are AMAZING but i think one of singer christopher hall's shining moments EVER is on the song INSIDE YOU which flows beautifully into FALLS APART. the band impreessively explodes some great emotion in INSIDE YOU and is backed by chris' STUNNING voice. FALLS APART , apart from a great live song(again, i recommend seeing them live. i doubt you will regret it) is a great song to crank. one of my favorite songs is SLIPPING AWAY and i love SO WRONG, CRUSHING ME and SLEEP all building a great album which ends on the lovely riff of SLIPPING AWAY. not many albums maintain from start to finish but SW carry a lovely ride with a great range of emotion and tempos. musically and vocally, i REALLY love this band. they are a good mix of members with a great sense of melody and emotion. i hightly recommend this album
danny. milkboydanny@hotmail.com
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Stabbing westward knows how to explode with anger pain and nothingness. All the musical negativity you will ever need. This CD's negative and dark songs soaked me into each song from beginning to end. It would rock then after a while the words and the mood sunk in and the album had the power to depress the rest of my day or put me in a bad and rude mode (maybe that's just me or I was going through some psychological problems and this CD did not help...whatever). It is that good. Now I enjoy listenning to the whole album. "Shame" has a lot of power along with "I don't Believe", "So Wrong", and "Falls Apart". The mellow moody tracks such as "Why" and "Sleep" have this mood of being trapped and alone with nothing to do about the given situation. The last track "Slipping Away" has a good dark chanting feel to it and the drumming is great. A perfect Album closer just as the first track is a great album openner. I love this album.
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