THE AMALGAMUT gets things cooking with "You Walk Away" and "American Cliche", two hard-charging tracks that start the album off nicely, leading into the lead single "Where Do We Go From Here". That song is one of the standouts on the album, as "Where Do We Go From Here" showcases a great blend of melody and intensity. It's a moment that makes the album stand above other releases that may seem half-hearted. THE AMALGAMUT doesn't stop there, though.

"So I Quit" and "My Long Walk to Jail" are some of the hardest tracks from Filter since "Hey Man Nice Shot" blew out our eardrums. "The Only Way (Is The Wrong Way)" has the same idea that "Take A Picture" did on TITLE OF RECORD: it's surprisingly melodic, and sort of dance-y. Also, "Columind" and "God Damn Me" are similar to "Where Do We Go From Here", as both are melodic with a blend of hard-rock thrown in for good measure.

The real surprise, though, is the completely melodic and atmospheric eight-minute-plus closing track, "The 4th". With mumbles from time to time surfacing on certain points during "The 4th", this track closes the album on a rather light note, but no less intense. It may be disappointing to many fans, but you'll come to appreciate it in time...if you do.

THE AMALGAMUT showcases a great blend of heavy tunes and charging melodies from Filter. They really changed after TITLE OF RECORD, a record which balanced with more melodic rock than heavy tunes. Yet however, TITLE led to AMALGAMUT's absolutely pure melodies, and this is no disappointment. Make no mistake, Filter are back...and their new disc THE AMALGAMUT is total proof that they've got a great knack to make some good rock. Cheers!


Nine Inch Nails for beginners   February 12, 2003
 13 out of 19 found this review helpful

As an industrial music afficianado, I can listen to several hours of NiN, Skinny Puppy, Filter, KMFDM, Prick, Psycic TV, etc. but I can't bring myself to like this whole CD.

Lyrically, this is Filter's weakest. "American Cliche" is the perfect example:

"Last seat on the bus, who you gonna trust. Which one do you follow?" - What? And it goes on like this.

Musically, Richard Patrick has always been a big fan of noise and distortion. And while that can sound absolutely beautiful on "Goddamn Me," "Where do we go from Here?," and "The Only Way (Is the Wrong Way)," near the middle of the album you start looking for a bit of a change. He is making his point by providing the noise, but he just keeps going. He is running the race, and after passing the finish line, he decided to keep going for a few more miles.

Minus the distortion and noise, the production sounds like Nine Inch Nails for beginners. Not nearly as deep, not nearly unique, but a good precusor to the industrial genre.

What is unfortunate here is that "Title of Record" and "Short Bus" rocked it til the wheels fell of, but this one only causes half the rocking (which, frankly, just isn't enough). Three Stars.


Complete let down. What were they thinking?!?!   August 9, 2002
 7 out of 11 found this review helpful

I loved the last album and still listen to it at least once a month. It set the stage for what Filter was all about for me. This new album was like they produced it themselves and didn't ask anyone's opinion if any of it was any good. Two songs are marginal and the rest are B-A-D BAD! I was completely disappointed and let down. I will go back to the old album and hope that the next one is better.


Richard Patrick can still scare the pants off a banshee...   August 10, 2002
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

...but somewhere along the way he learned to sing as well. Good on him! Patrick's voice has never sounded better, or the band more cohesive. Still, there are two sides to The Amalgamut. One is pop-station friendly, the other certainly is NOT.
"God Damn Me" is a joy to listen to. Right now it is my favorite song on the record. Bittersweet vocals float over an acoustic guitar and drums during the verse, blending into gorgeous harmony during the chorus. People will invariably compare it to "Take A Picture", but this is better.
"Columined" is the other side of this album, a distorted, throat-scraping soundoff on the events at Columbine. I wonder how the man has a voice left at all!
Some of the songs seem destined for radio airplay, like the already-released "Where Do We Go From Here". That and "The Only Way (Is The Wrong Way)" are both similar to "Take A Picture" in that they are pleasant to listen to and insidiously singable (meaning you'll probably hear even tone-deaf people singing them as you cringe in horror).
Harder, more adventurous stations might take on "My Long Walk To Jail" or "You Walk Away" which feature crunchier guitars, harder drums, and the trademark skullsplitting vocals. Time will tell.
Only the last two tracks seem out of place. "World Today" is wierd and disturbing, like a child in an insane asylum. "I like the world today, I like the world today, I like the world today, when it's green...And sometimes it's mean, and sometimes it's mean, and sometimes it's mean as can be". "The 4th" is companion to "World Today", which is pure aural experimentation. The song (I use that term loosely) is hypnotic and oddly calming but disconserting, as though the musical rollercoaster's track suddenly left the park, and headed out into the desert.
The jumble of styles and sounds on this album is a challenge sometimes, but it is always interesting and ultimately rewarding to follow a band as it grows more skilled and confident. This is Filter's finest effort so far, and I can only hope the next one comes soon.


THE WHO (OOPS)...FILTER SELLS OUT!!   September 10, 2002
 6 out of 15 found this review helpful

Hey I know Richard Patrick and co. are in the music business partly to sell records and try to appeal to a larger and/or more mainstream audience but why oh why does every other song on this CD sound like a "Take a Picture" retread? Did they think that they were going to be able to release more than one single off this album that might become a top 40 hit like that lousy song did?

What a shame that Filter tried to cater to FM radio programmers instead of the true rock'n'roll fans that are their real core audience. TITLE OF RECORD was a worthy and much more developed and thoughtful follow-up to a decent debut. But I think that the majority of Filter admirers will acknowledge that the previously mentioned single off that release was BY FAR the weakest song on the CD. To release an album that is almost 50% "semi-hard rock" ballads (only two-maybe of which are not completely dull and unimaginative) smacks of kowtowing to the will of publicists and record company executives. Talk about compromising your artistic integrity.

OK enough ranting and raving; on to the good parts of this album. The first two songs blew me away!-"You Walk Away" showcases Filter's songwriting and musicianship at its seminal rock band best. But its all downhill from there; the other jam songs (track #s 4, 7 and 8) are a little on the simplistic/nu-metal rehash side. Only "It Can Never Be the Same" saves the CD from total oblivion. Another quibble: Patrick shows that he does have a somewhat forceful ("American Cliche") and somtimes soulful ("The Missing") voice but some of the choices he makes on this album are inappropriate, if not downright awful at times. The chorus on "Where Do We Go From Here", with its painful falsetto crescendo, is laughable; he sings "My Long Walk To Jail" so off-key, its like nails on a blackboard.

One last point, and its troubling enough that I almost reduced my rating by a full star. When I first popped the CD into my player, I was delighted to finally find an album of decent length (57+ minutes). Boy was I mistaken. Not only is the last track 8 minutes of relentlessly terrible noise, the second to last one is by far the worst 'real' song on the whole album. What that means is that the last quarter of THE AMALGAMUT is virtually unlistenable! I think Filter owes me a few dollars back on the purchase price of this album.

I still have to rank this CD in the upper half of 2002 albums (is this a weak year for major rock releases or what?!) but that's not saying much. If Patrick and the boys had just stayed with the tried and true formula that worked so well on SHORT BUS and TITLE OF RECORD, that is a lot of hard rocking songs with a power ballad or two minimum thrown into the mix for variety's sake, this CD could've been one of the best albums of the year instead of one of the biggest disappointments. Oh well, there's still a few months left in 2002. How are the RHCP and Kid Rock CDs? Oh is that right? That bad?! Now I'm really depressed.

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