Monster Magnet: Cobras and Fire (The Mastermind Redux)

I am a fan of adaptations, transmutations, changes, re-imaginings, and other modifications, but not of all such creative twists and turns. This is one of those I didn't like. To be fair, Monster Magnet seems to be going through several of their classic releases with an eye to shaking up all expectations and giving fans a new way of approaching their music. I admire the idea, especially when it comes to challenging audiences, but I'm also wondering how useful it really is to keep tinkering with things. George Lucas's endless changes to his Star Wars films were not all equally valuable or equally necessary. Could the same thing be said of rethinking albums? Sure, I enjoyed much of Milking the Stars, the band's twist on Last Patrol, but I am growing weary of finding ways of thinking through the old, the new, and the redux. I've never been a big fan of Monster Magnet anyway, even though I generally have no problem with the high-energy heavy rock music they play. It's just that I don't know how to approach the material here; I also wonder how much of this is just too much. Here's what I didn't like: "Ball of Confusion," a song that Love and Rockets already did too much with back in the 1980s; "She Digs that Hole," a celebration of sex, drugs, and rock and roll that was way too committed to its swaggering machismo. "Gods and Punks" was better, as was "When the Planes Fell from the Sky."

Track Listing:
1. She Digs that Hole
2. Watch Me Fade
3. Mastermind
4. Hallucination Bomb
5. Gods and Punks
6. The Titan
7. When the Planets Fall from the Sky
8. Ball of Confusion
9. Time Machine
10. I Live Behind the Paradise Machine: Evil Joe

Added: December 18th 2015
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 1495
Language: english

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