Jack Endino--Permanent Fatal Error
Wondertaker 2005
When you've been in the producer's seat on so many great albums, perhaps most notably Nirvana's debut Bleach, it must be daunting getting folks to think of you for anything but knob twiddling. In reality, Jack Endino was an accomplished musician in his own right long before he made his fame in the booth. With Permanent Fatal Error he's back to doing his own rocking, former members of Screaming Trees, Accused, and Coffin Break in tow. The alt rocking that ensues reeks of an authenticity radio and music video channels haven't know from this form in a long time.
In the grand scheme of things, Permanent Fatal Error is not much of a stylistic departure from Jack's work with Skin Yard and Endino's Earthworm. This album is filled with top notch alternative rock, as rooted in metal and hard rock as it is in punk. One major shift of note is how vibrantly his prog influences shine through in this recording, likely due to that patented Endino production focus and the years of honed chops. His guitar work is sharper than ever here and those laid-back yet gruff vocals remain a big draw, too.
The progressive nature of Permanent Fatal Error's material makes for an interesting listen. While stark dynamic contrast between songs is a near given on most discs one would consume, here those shifts take place within the individual cuts. The result is an overall consistent feeling listen with moments which jump out at you as opposed to whole tracks. Featuring the most locked in and straightforward groove of this batch, "Swallow The Acid" gives Endino's voice plenty of room to shine and should prove a big hit with Queens Of The Stone Age fans. "Reach" invokes the spirit of Led Zeppelin ever so slightly on its chunked verse riff, while the opening acoustic strains of "Bringing Me Down" set the stage for what amounts to a sort of vocalized alt rock take on Ace Frehley's "Fractured Mirror." All three of the instrumentals on this platter distinguish themselves, from the Mudhoney-esque "Van Allen Wrench," to the clean toned "Flight Of The Wax Tadpole," on through to the slide-infused title track. Endino's most glowing moment of guitar work comes via the lilting wah lead boasted during the bridge section of "Waiting," a masters class on touch and taste.
While Jack forgoes transparent pop sensibility on Permanent Fatal Error, it seems highly likely that followers of groups such as Incubus and Foo Fighters will find a lot to latch onto here. The reality is that these days alternative equals mainstream and if Endino were ever able to take this to the stage in front of some of those audiences, this disc would undoubtedly find its greatest success. Still, there's enough rootedness here to keep the oldtimers from hollering "sell out." With such a broad array of reference points, Permanent Fatal Error stands to find favor over a wide spectrum of people and tastes.
Score this CD directly from WONDERTAKER
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