 What a Mangled Web We Leave |Red Light Records, 1994| 
1. Passion For Destruction, 2. Regret, 3. Texas Tattoo, 4. Family Values, 5. Parasites, 6. Sign The Dotted Line, 7. Hoosegow, 8. Mt. Carmel Cookout, 9. Ranch Apocalypse, 1. Rip Off
The second and so far the last The Skatenigs album reaches deeper to metal and hardcore music in comparison to Stupid People Shouldn't Breed, filled with funk, rap and metal vibes.
What a Mangled Web We Leave was released by two labels - Red Light Records, which I'm not familiar with, and Bulletproof (a sublabel of Music For Nations, bought in 2004 r. by Sony BMG, which has put out albums of such bands like Tool, Neurosis, Paradise Lost, Poison, Metallica, Exodus, Megadeth or Candlemass, and the most aggressive of Die Krupps' releases - Odyssey of the Mind). There are many more guitar solos and heavy Ministry-like atmospheres on What a Mangled Web We Leave, though there's no drastic change to the first album released in 1992.
While Al Jourgensen was a producer of Stupid People Shouldn't Breed, there are other famous names in terms of the second album production: Tom Baker (who worked with such bands like [f.e.v.e.r.], Rabbit Junk, Nine Inch Nails, Scum Of The Earth, The Birthday Massacre, DKay.com, Real Life, Beastie Boys, Ministry, Revolting Cocks) and Mat Mitchell (Puscifer, Armageddon Dildos, Flowering Blight - Paul Barker's (Ministry) project amongst all). Finally there's also Keith “Fluffy" Auerbach, great sound engineer.
As you might have noticed, some bands have their favorite producers, who can tune up their sound to meet their needs and expectations, but their names can attract the listeners who follow not only the bands' achievements, but also works of the albums producers.
"Texas Tattoo" is definitely the most 'catchy' song of the whole album because of its dynamics, an interesting structure but not that much interesting lyrics, to me, while "Parasites" sounds like a mixture of music by RevCo and Ministry, very heavy, powerful track kept in a hard rock tune.
"Family Values" can be associated only to The Skatenigs, so you wouldn't go wrong by guessing who made it, if you have ever came across their music before. If you need a song to sing it aloud in a crowd, then choose "Regret", especially if you are one of those rebelled people. Great lyrics with punk-rock spirit.
"Sign The Dotted Line" contains better lyrics than music to me, a guitar riff was connected with psychodelic, hard-rock background, and it's the only one thing I recall about this song. Other than that "Hoosegrow" is kept in Texas style, with its pushy ego and fiery power in the foreground. A song of invaders, indeed.
"Mt. Carmel Cookout" it’s an instrumental break between those hot songs, with some weird story told by the sounds and samples. A military chopper, a kid crying... Mt. Caramel is called a holy place by the Christians, where Elijah was supposed to have a grotto at the top of the mountain and challenge Baal’s believers to determine whose deity was genuinely in control of the Kingdom of Israel.
“Ranch Apocalypse" has some heavy guitar riffs mixed with simple drums and Phildo's voices, criticizing some stories about Texas. What's interesting, there's a part of the lyrics going like: “You know this is the same F.B.I. that bombed the World Trade Centre." As a reminder, the album was released in 1994.
Finally, funny "Rip Off" with samples grabbed possibly from cartoons or comedies, with Skrew-like vocals and guitar solos.
The Skatenigs was undoubtedly a band which achieved a meaningful place in rock music history, but maybe less in industrial-metal music history, with a little use of computers and samples, but certainly all of their albums are worth of listening. Phildo's irony and his intelligent lyrics make things even more interesting.
(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz. Must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)
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