It's been 15 years since guitar god TIM SKOLD released his first album. In the interim he's been busy garnering Grammy nominations with MARILYN MANSON, keeping the old-school industrial rock flame alight with KMFDM, and inducting young talent into the world of guitar and recording tricks. Now it's time for his second solo album "Anomie", which achieves all that wasn't possible in his previous collaborations.
The result is a diverse, absorbing LP full of love of the details, firing on all cylinders by the third song at the latest, as SKOLD leads us on a tour of rock's many facets with playful ease and believable depth. One has the impression that he truly loves what he does and there's something here for literally everyone, without it ever becoming tiresome for anyone: seldom does one come across such a stylistically diverse album that nevertheless sounds so monolithic!
"Anomie" is a magnificent solo album, the kind that is only really possible to make with a completely free hand. Tim Skold has been active (and successful) for a long time, he has no need to curry anyone's favour or chase big halls or stadiums – having rocked them to excess with Manson long ago – thus setting him free to pursue his own artistic goals. Manson fans will appreciate sleazy smashers like "Suck" and "Here Comes the Thunder“, KMFDM fans will love "Black Out", the metal contingent "Angel of Noise“ and "(This Is My) Elephant" and there is even an up-tempo number with "Tonight". The melancholy and haunting "Becoming" and "What You See Is What You Get" and the industrial rock ballads "And Then We Die" and "Miserably Never After" round out an album that, as a single listening will confirm, really is the perfect mix – brilliant!
Naturally, the album has been beautifully produced, lending it an unbelievably rich and powerful sound that can only be achieved by a talented old hand: a Swedish-born multi-instrumentalist who founded his first band, KINGPIN, in 1980, who after changing their name to SHOTGUN MESSIAH in 1989 would go on to become true glam-rock legends. In 1996, after releasing a solo album as SKOLD, Tim joined KMFDM, leaving in 2002 to join MARILYN MANSON as bassist, guitarist, and co-producer. By the time he left the Manson organization and rejoined KMFDM in 2008, Tim had made a name for himself as a sought-after producer and remixer.
With "Anomie", SKOLD has produced an album which very nearly overshadows much of his earlier work for others and – and this is a phrase that is used so often it's nearly lost all meaning, but here it's really true – belongs in every good rock collection!
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