Skumlove Feed the EGO Ep Review

Skumlove band image

A dear friend, from too many years ago to be exact, has a passion for representing artists that have a flair for staying in the memory banks via great music, great style, and even great passion. I’ve met some real gems from former Puddle of Mudd frontman to bands like Love and Death, PSR turned Gibson sponsored Darren Wise and current songwriter/guitarist for Empiires to now, Industrial Metal/Post Punk rock band Skumlove. With nearly every band she’s taken on they seem to be intertwined with previous well known artists and Skumlove is no exception.

Feeding the EGO is an EP with 7 songs, each being a remix of the song EGO. Skumlove has assembled a cast of characters to flesh out each version in its own tasty vision with guests such as Kevin Kipnis, Jay Gordon, K9, Clayton Swann, Sen Dever, Professional Murcer Music and more. If these names sound familiar then you must be an Industrial Metal fan! This is a feast for your ears, if that’s the case!

Each song is presented as what I consider a title of a chapter in a 7 part story, which is the first of many clever ideas.

EGO Fuckthefloor

EDO Do Not Lose Yourself

EGO Black Death

EGO-Centrica

EGO-ism

EGO Professional Hit

EGO Original Demo Mono

With this kind of setup I was pretty stoked to see what kind of story I was in for. Skumlove had their share of sold out shows touring alongside powerhouses such as StaticX, Type O Negative, Ministy, Danzig and Combichrist, just to name a few. Now, I let the tale begin…

Right out of the gate the Chombichrist remix chilled me with an eerie opening. As it pressed on it demanded my attention, tuning out background noises such as the air conditioner, that damn train that rolls through here 5 times a day and even my urge to use the bathroom. I was going to originally review this in present tense but the power of this song, at least this version, didn’t allow me to concentrate on much else. Therefore, I let the tale continue to speak to me.

As each version of the song played, the differences were cool but some had less pull than the others. With Jay Gordon being on one of the remixes I thought this one would be my favorite but it actually pulled me out of the momentum that was built previously. That was a good thing, actually, and I’ll tell you why in a moment.

By the time the last song played which was the original Demo, as far as I could tell by the title, I realized something. The cleverness of every element in each song had an agenda that could only be pulled off once combined by masters of their crafts. You see, music can make you feel a certain way, obviously, but when it goes deep and finds parts inside of you that lurk just behind your consciousness it can pull out emotions that you’d either enjoy finding again or prefer not to face again. Skumlove has done just that- pulled a mood out of me I was nowhere near when I sat down to give this Ep a solid listen.

This review began as a buildup of excitement as once I was a Jay Gordon, StaticX and Ministry fan. In fact, Psalm 69 was one of my favorite albums in the 90’s which I discovered around the time The Crow movie came out (one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, perhaps second only to Queen of the Damned). However, it took less than 2 minutes for my mood to switch from that excitement to quiet contemplation and a slight sense of dread.

Combichrist managed to take the catchy, musical hook and drone it repeatedly into my ears. Rarely, if any, was there a change. This was the first example of the cleverness in the base song. The second form of cleverness were the repeating lines, “Everybody wants to be somebody. Everyone wants to be somebody else. I’m exactly who I want to be. I’ve become my own enemy.” These are lines we can all relate to. I don’t have a trained ear for the effects on the vocals so it was tough to decipher the other words in the song until the Kevin Kipni and Frontal Boundary remix’s played.

At that time, I had a better sense of the meaning I took from the song which was the dangers of giving into the Ego. That slight sense of dread turned to depression which isn’t a slap to the song and its various compositions but a salute to exactly what the power of music can do when orchestrated. Was it orchestrated for mind control or did it just pull out the realness of an over-glorified ego that we all tend to feed in varying degrees throughout life?

In my several decades of life and my own spiritual journey I have come to understand that the Ego is not an entirely bad or evil thing. We’re just in a society and long line of ancestors who seem to have lost the grasp on the non ego parts that should be the dominant, inicontrol energy of our own directions in life. A balance is great since the ego is necessary in certain aspects of our physical lives. But feeding it, giving into it, letting the indulgence of the potentially darker and barbaric sides of our minds take center stage all the time is dangerous to ourselves and those around us.

This is what Feeding the EGO had me think about it. I was forced to take a second look at what I’m doing in my day to day life. I have not changed much at all from even where I was 15 years ago. I’m not diong things much differently. I don’t have a life that is that much fun although it’s by no means terrible. I’m doing The Audio Punch Podcast to connect with creative artists in hopes that I can support the dreams of others as I always have, but also to find people who will support my musical direction. I guess I’m still afraid that if I don’t do this, no one will give a shit about my music. But by doing this, I’m neglecting the extra time and effort I could give to my own music. This honesty comes out here in this review just to prove that this song, and the artful way it has been reprogrammed 7 times on this EP will make you think. I wonder what it will make you think.

All in all, Skumlove’s Feeding the EGO Ep is a masterful use of the elements of music and patterning to induce a state of reflection. Each version is specifically designed, in my opinion, to use the science of repetition via the often unchanging chord arrangements, the darker frequencies of the sound spectrum, the repetitive lyrics, and artists with many years of experience with this type of Industrial Metal sound to make you feel a certain way. That way is up to you.

This is where I’m torn. This Ep feels like a direction into darkness instead of upliftment, a formula in which, for my ears, isn’t something I will listen to again on purpose. I have been taken out of my excitement and into depression. This could be because I was caught off guard and also because I studied in depth the science of repitition, musical frequencies and patterns, the different states of trance that the human brain goes into throughout the day and especially while listening to music. I can’t say what the intention of this song was by the artist. All I can say is that it made me feel down at first. Then, I could pinpoint what I was down about and reflect on that. Then, I saw the brilliance behind the amalgamation and am now in awe of the power of music, the mind, and where I am in my personal development in my own life. But I didn’t stand up and yell out from the mountaintop for my ego to shut the hell up and then beam with excitement and purpose.

This is a true testament to the power of music and those who weave it. And although I don’t feel as awesome as I did when I first sat down, I feel awesome knowing that I had an experience to grow from after listening to this album. Feeding the EGO indeed, Skumlove. The final design of the song itself is a perfect score of what music can do when it is formulated on purpose. However, since I was pulled out of excitement and into a bit of darkness, I give this an 8 out of 12 on on the Chromatic Scale.

I am curious though, what are your thoughts?

Check out Skumlove at www.Skumlove.com

-Daniel C. Morrison – The Audio Punch/Hip Rock Magazine