BAD BRAINS

It gives me no pleasure to trash a BAD BRAINS album. The band's importance in the hardcore, punk and metal genres cannot be overstated, and their body of work has remained impressive through years of personal turmoil. Despite reports of vocalist H.R. looking and sounding pretty haggard at recent reunion shows, it was hoped that the band could pull it together for this comeback, and create some sounds that could stand beside undeniably great works like "I Against I", their incendiary self-titled album, and even later, more metallic efforts like 1989's "Quickness".

Well, three-quarters of the band showed up for work ready to kick ass. Guitarist Gary "Dr. Know" Miller, drummer Earl Hudson and bassist Darryl Jenifer turn in some great jams -- Miller's guitar tone alone, when he lets it loose and the band lets loose, is a thing of both beauty and ferocity. There are some great songs in the vein of the mid-to-late 80's, slightly more metal-tinged, BAD BRAINS catalog, and that's heartening. It's all kind of 1988 rehash, but the enthusiasm is there, and that counts for a lot.

But problematic vocalist H.R., ever the source of distraction and hassle, seems to be literally phoning it in here. His stated interest in recent years has been on the reggae side of the band's sound, and he sounds utterly disinterested in singing the more hardcore songs. He recorded his tracks on the west coast, away from the rest of the band, and you can almost hear the disdain creeping in as he half-asses his way through a bunch of half-spoken, echo-choked Jah-centric catch phrases. Songs like the title track and "Let There Be Angels (Just Like You)" are utterly wasted, killer verses and choruses speeding by, waiting for the old, manic, frantic H.R. to come spit some of his inimitable magic over them, only to get the heavy-lidded mumblings of this Rasta-fried wreck instead.

So at least the reggae tracks should be good, since H.R. cares about that stuff, right? Throw on "I Against I" real quick, and check out the fire and passion, the sly playing, the creative vocals. Then go back to "Build a Nation" — the reggae tunes seem perfunctory, third-rate, meaningless in comparison. At the end of the record, all that's left is a vague sense of being fucked with, teased, and ultimately let down by one of the few bands that was actually important. It's a depressing situation – enough to make you wish the other three could make a go of it with a different vocalist (blasphemy to many fans, although "Build a Nation" may bring some people around to the idea).

Like I said, it's impossible to say a discouraging word about BAD BRAINS without feeling like a bit of an asshole (which may be why some larger publications have been floating fluffy little puff-piece reviews at "Build a Nation"). But hey, if H.R. took the band's legacy as seriously as the rest of us do, maybe he would get his shit together and put a little more effort into the band that means so much to so many.