Limp Bizkit
Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water

THE REVIEW

In my humble opinion: this is one of the best albums made in the USA released in 2000!

Limp Bizkit with "Chocolate starfish and..." reached the peak of their success, extracting five singles from it, selling them overwhelmingly all over the globe, and managing to pack every venue they performed in to the brim.

John Otto on drums, the "always made-up" Wes Borland on guitar, Sam Rivers on bass, and finally Dj Lethal on turntables and samplers; leader of this, musically speaking, splendid formation is the increasingly cheeky and indifferent Fred Durst, yes, the one with the red cap worn backward that gives off an '80s rapper vibe, very Californian shirts and trousers and skate shoes, yes, the one who is talked about much less today; but that's another story.

The album contains intensely powerful songs, definitely commercial and radio-friendly, yet still powerful and full of energy, almost pouring out of the CD player and invading the entire room with their, how should one say, propensity to destroy everything and make us jump up and down like crazy. Everything is extremely well cared for, every band member knows what to do and does it well, as they show us in songs like "My generation," where everything finds its dimension: the bass pumps and seems about to lose its strings at any moment, the drums violently mark every moment of the piece in question, the voice isn't a great voice but it's the right one (soft and then strong when needed), the guitar gives us tough and never boring riffs while Dj Lethal's scratches add that urban sound touch to the entire song. "Take a look around," an original cover on the Mission Impossible theme, well studied and even technically well-played.

"My way" is quite soft compared to most of the tracks, particularly notable for how Fred structures the entire sung part, the wonderful bass lines, and the classic scratches that never hurt and perfectly join with the electric guitar riff. The only real ballad on the CD is the stunning "Hold on," where Fred showcases a beautiful voice, accompanied by equally beautiful choirs, while the most hip-hop track (and perhaps also one of those that stands out the most from the rest of the work) is "Getcha groove on" feat. XZ: excellent synths, excellent XZ, excellent chorus, satisfactory Durst section.

"Hot dog" follows a beautiful intro/vocoder section and ranks as the most badass and powerful song at the same time, throwing a bit of "fuck" left and right; almost the same for "Full nelson," except this one's more technological.

In conclusion, I'd say "Chocolate starfish and the hot dog flavored water" is a great album, especially on the instrumental plane, an album rich in sounds, an album capable of alternating moments of madness with slightly more introspective moments; Fred Durst's voice more or less suits most of it, and the record is easily (so to speak) listened to; the musicians are divine, and the rhythms proposed by drummer John Otto are interesting, a drummer who significantly boosts the disc's quality level.

P.S.
But Limp Bizkit today? mhmmmm