Review: Pipedown “Mental Weaponry”

Pipedown
“Mental Weaponry”
(A-F Records)

Pipedown have got their minds on anything and everything political. A quick perusal through the jacket liner of “Mental Weaponry” will find you references to Vergil (I can only assume they meant “Virgil”-the guy who wrote “The Aeneid”), Siddharta Guatama and Henry David Thoreau, all at their most anti-government. However, the lyrical content of the album seems to betray the fact that these men (no women, sorry ladies) were largely positive individuals, lovers of life who wrote/fought for the betterment of society. Instead, Pipedown focuses on negatives throughout the album, with lines like, “So terrible is the lie that we master our own destiny,” and “As we fall, from sickness in our hearts/ And we’re still falling,” which run counter to the credo of the Thoreaus and Martin Luther King Jrs of the world. The notable exception to the nihilistic mood on the album comes on “Control” which is also the best track. Fueled by Ean Elliot’s wonderful screams and the metal-tinged lead guitar of James K., Pipedown shows lots of musical prowess, even if their mental influences don’t match their melodic state.