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Behind my grandma’s house in rural Oklahoma
a squalid log cabin sits as a shrinking reminder of the past.
The walls are sinking into the ground farther each year and
the doorframe is so low that only my granny, who is shrinking
at the same rate, can enter without ducking. This is the childhood
home of her mother. Around 1840 her grandparents built this
home where the U.S government had deposited them at the receiving
end of Nunna daul Tsuny, "The Trail Of Tears."
Spike Xavier’s alter ego Corporate Avenger is
presented as a socio-political super hero to address issues
such as this one. Like the Speed Racer subplot, Corporate
Avenger’s brother is Daddy X of Kottonmouth Kings,
which collaborates on the project. With the makeup schtick
and megaphone brandishing sidekick Taxman, he is as
action-figure-ready as Insane Clown Posse. Their controversy,
however, counts for more than shock value.
There’s a lot of dry propagandizing in the songs,
and between. A cross between evangelist and military training
film, the indoctrination begins to grate quickly. Within the
songs there’s plenty of interesting ear candy and clever rhythms.
The singing is rich, like Ozzy doing R&B. While
it sounds like Dexter Holland is doing the whiney rapping.
The punk element draws from the Killing Joke and
Gang Of Four sense of political outrage. The musical sugar
for this medicine is the stuff of Nine Inch Nails.
"I Don’t Fault The Police" is a refreshing
perspective as backhanded defense, I don't fault the police/Cause
the people that run em/ they divide and deceive/I don't cry
when a police die/cause they probably deserved it./Run around
with a badge and a gun/and they god damn fucked with everyone.
In fairness, the incendiary message gives equal time to gangsters.
The criminal justice system is grilled also in "FBI Files",
"Web Of Lies" and "Pig Is A Pig." Our
governing body takes similar hits in the cool, rubbery "Voting
Doesn’t Work" and "Taxes Are Stealing." Extra
points are awarded for the Taxi Driver screwhead speech.
It seems Corporate Avenger wasn’t content with
John D. Loudermilk’s "Lament Of The Cherokee Nation"
as the theme recurs in "Christians Murdered Indians",
"The Bible Is Bullshit", the beautiful "Heavens
Joke", and "$20 Bill." With Frontline Assembly
industrial, the latter effectively points out Andrew Jackson’s
history of poor Native American relations. Desecration
of a burial site./Did you go shopping at the mall tonight?/The
blood is on the Christian hands./With crosses they possess
this land. Continuing the religious backlash, "Jesus
Christ Homosexual" is transparently inciting. By design,
it will upset both the ill-humored religious and homosexuals.
But perhaps not religious homosexuals? So laughable, it really
does more to attack Avenger’s credibility than the intended
target. Unlike herbal advocates Kottonmouth Kings, the Avenger
spares us all but one pot song, "Drug Dealing God."
A musical bumper-sticker for legalization.
The history lesson and mind-fodder they present
is laudable, as is the groundbreaking contribution to costume
B-boy music. The preaching and rapping give me a headache.
If one is issuing smallpox blankets, and ten
is freeing Leonard Peltier: Freedom Is A State Of
Mind rates a six, Tsalagi language taught on the
net.
Complaints Dept : Mmmm, my favorite flavor,
preaches and scream.
— Ewan Wadharmi
Track Listing:
- Rattle
- Fault The Police (I Don't)
- Christians Murdered Indians
- FBI Files
- Taxes Are Stealing
- Bible Is Bullshit
- Voting Doesn't Work
- Web of Lies
- $20 Bill
- Jesus Christ Homosexual
- Pig Is A Pig
- Drug Dealing God
- Heaven's Joke
 Talk
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