ALBUM REVIEW: Still Sucks – Limp Bizkit

Let’s face it, LIMP BIZKIT were the “kings of nu-metal”. Dad Vibes fully engaged, do they still reign supreme or has the starfish navigation system given up the ghost? This All Hallows Eve, we were given the gift of LIMP BIZKIT‘s first full-length album in a decade in the form of Still Sucks. The follow up to 2011’s Gold Cobra, it’s the band’s shortest studio album running at just over 32 minutes. While the sight of three-two-one on the run time is aesthetically pleasing, it becomes slightly alarming when there are 12 tracks for our consideration.

A tale of two halves, the album begins with a tug at our nostalgic hearts. Calls for DJ Lethal in Out Of Style usher in disjointed riffs and reach out to djent. The groove of the catchy yet simplistic chorus is LIMP BIZKIT checking our “bounce game“. Outside of this, when the song opts for a melodic approach, the momentum gets killed. Dirty Rotten Bizkit is keen to pick it up again but there’s a snag in the fabric. Though tweaked in places, the riff Wes Borland offers us is hardly new. Listen back to Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water (2001) and Hot Dog‘s driving force blends almost seamlessly into Dirty Rotten Bizkit. Unfortunately this isn’t the only throwback to LIMP BIZKIT‘s most successful record. Fred Durst‘s comments of “chocolate on a starfish, everybody kiss it” in Snacky Poo have us wondering just how long the LB plans to rely on the CS for a cheap laugh.

“It’s Halloween and I’m your ghost” Durst sings into the ether on the chilling You Bring Out The Worst In Me. Another tale of woe of a souring relationship, we once again experience the aggressive, slightly obsessive side of LIMP BIZKIT‘s lyrical content. The way Durst screams “when you sleep, I will be inside your dreams” is a fresher take on their wronged or spurned lover. Yet there is still something reminiscent of Boiler or Eat You Alive lurking over our shoulder. This burst of aggression slotting well into a song constructed to haunt is perhaps one of the only times LIMP BIZKIT flip the script successfully.

For those who are, or aren’t, fond of a LIMP BIZKIT cover song, Still Sucks is home to one of those; Don’t Change. This rendition of the raucous INXS hit is ground down into sorrowful dreariness. The acoustic guitar becomes something of a bad omen for the nu-metal titans as closer Goodbye is another drab number. While Durst sings of saying goodbye to his sadness, we can’t help but feel infected by this melancholy. Closing Still Sucks on this ballad is jarring. When combined with the industrial noise of Pill Popper, or tongue in cheek diss track Love The Hate though, Still Sucks as a whole jars from one moment to the next.

Fans across the globe have waited ten years for a new LIMP BIZKIT album. When Stampede Of The Disco Elephants was canned in a cloud of confusion, many were wondering whether the band were ever going to move past their differences and emerge once more. Now the wait is over and we have Still Sucks in our digital libraries, we have to ask if this was worth the wait. What would have served LIMP BIZKIT better is releasing the stronger tracks as a shorter EP. What we have instead however, is a lukewarm release which will join the ranks of Gold Cobra as being forgotten as soon as the novelty of a new LIMP BIZKIT album wears off.

Rating: 5/10

Still Sucks is out now via Suretone Records.

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