Since Mudvayne announced their return after 12 long years, I’ve been on a bit of a Mudvayne kick. It’s been fun to go back and revisit all their albums, especially LD 50 and The End Of All Things To Come. While doing that I found myself thinking what should they play when they take the stage. Thankfully, I have a topic of discussion for just that. What you have here is my ultimate set list for Mudvayne. What would be on yours?
Guideline 1: What line up of the band would it be
Guideline 2: Where would you want to see the show
Guideline 3: maximum 25 songs (In order of how the set should go)
Lineup: Chad Gray, Ryan Martinie, Matthew McDonough, Greg Tribbett
Venue: The Roxy Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)
Setlist:
01) Silenced 02) (K)now F(Orever) 03) Not Falling 04) Death Blooms 05) Pushing Through 06) Mercy, Severity 07) Beautiful And Strange 08) A World So Cold 09) -1 10) Determined 11) Trapped In The Wake Of A Dream 12) The End Of All Things To Come 13) Internal Primates Forever 14) Forget To Remember 15) I Can’t Wait 16) Under My Skin 17) All That You Are 18) Dull Boy 19) Burn The Bridge 20) Heard It All Before
Encore:
21) Severed 22) Nothing To Gein 23) Happy? 24) Dig
It’s been way too long but, now the day has arrived. Mudvayne are officially back! It was announced today that the band would be reuniting for a series of festival shows including, Aftershock, Louder Than Life, Welcome To Rockville and Inkcareration. After 12 years, it’s very refreshing to have them back. I have to say too, I’m glad they are doing this. I couldn’t stand Hellyeah. Mudvayne has always been a live favorite of mine. Hell I even spent my 21st birthday at a Mudvayne concert (with Life Of Agony, American Head Charge, and the awesome Bloodsimple). Their debut album, LD 50 is one hell of an album to this day, 20 years after it’s release. I was also quite fond of the follow up, The End Of All Things To Come. Their 3rd album, Lost and Found is a pretty rocking album with some choice cuts on it like “All That You Are.” The New Game was ok. Their final album, 2009’s self titled was actually a nice sort of return, though it was more a return to Lost and Found than LD 50. Either way with their catalog of songs and intense live shows, this reunion hopefully will be long lasting.
Back in the year 2000, there was an album that was released that left a mark on heavy music at the time. We all know about the albums by Korn, Deftones, Slipknot and more. Those bands really left a lasting impression with their debuts and helped steer the course of the heavy music genre. The album and the band that I’d like to delve into is Mudvayne and the album I’m speaking about is their debut album L.D. 50.
After releasing their Kill, I Oughtta EP, Mudvyane signed to No-Name Records/Epic Records. Their debut for the label would be produced by Garth “GGGarth” Richardson (Rage Against The Machine, The Melvins). Recording took place up in Vancouver, Canada. The recording process for the album was excutively produced by Steve Richards (No-Name Records/Management) and Shawn Crahan aka Clown aka #6 of Slipknot. The sessions for L.D. 50 would prove to be very intensive. The band would be working around the clock as Garth Richardson ran a very tight ship. There were a couple songs that weren’t completed till the 11th hour like “Nothing To Gein” and “Pharmaecopia.” Stylistically, L.D. 50 was much more than just your run of the mill heavy record. Mudvayne incorporated a lot of different styles including death metal, hardcore punk, speed metal, prog rock and bits of jazz. Critics began referring to the bands as “Math Metal” due to their intricate time signatures.
L.D. 50 is one of those albums that still holds up to this day and is still praised by fans of the band and genre. For example the song “Dig” is still one of those songs when you hear it today, you can’t help but get excited. Plus the scream of vocalist Chad Gray in the beginning has become a sort of legendary scream. The video for “Dig” also won the MTV2 Awards for best video. Other songs that have always stood out to me on this record include “Internal Primates Forever,” “-1” “Death Blooms,” (which is my favorite song on the album. And when I saw them live many moons ago, this song was so damn good live), “Cradle,” Nothing to Gein,” “Severed,” “Pharmaecopia,” and “(K)now F(orever).” The album itself feels like an album. The songs are separated by interludes that pull all the songs together. These interludes also provide an extra amount of atmosphere that is needed to break up the pummeling of riffs and rhythms.
L.D. 50 was more than just a “metal” record. It was also a showcase of how talented each individual in the band is and how well they worked together. Drummer Matt McDonough and bassist Ryan Martinie are an absolute force of a rhythm section. Guitarist Greg Tribbett had a knack for writing interesting riffs to compliment the off time of Matt and Ryan. The three of them working together created something that has stood the test of time. Then when you add vocalist Chad Gray into the mix it all comes together. Chad’s lyrics and vocal delivery on this album were superb. His ability to go all out guttural with his screams and then quickly deliver genuine melodic vocals was stunning, especially on “Death Blooms.”
This album is a classic among the albums released since the turn of the century. If you ever read the comments section on any music news site that Mudvayne is mentioned in, you’ll most definitely read a slew of comments of fans of L.D. 50. It’s one of those albums that people pine for due to the rawness and aggression. Just like fans of bands like Metallica pine for the sound of their first 4 albums. It’s a shame that Mudvayne isn’t around at the moment. They were always a top notch live band. Their follow up albums seem to be hit or miss with a lot of their fans but, there are still some very excellent songs among those. I personally really dig on the follow up to L.D. 50, The End Of All Things To Come as well as their “final” album which is technically untitled. I genuinely hope that the four of them can put away any ill will and get back to making great tunes again as Mudvayne. Until then, at least we still have the music and the great debut album in L.D. 50.
audioeclectica 