Revolting Cocks
Cocked And Loaded

Here's the unexpected return of the Revolting Cocks to the scene after 13 years and the explosive but criticized "Linger Ficken' Good" of 1993.

Al Jourgensen and his industrial explosiveness, mixed with punk worthy of the best Sex Pistols, digitalized until it sounds like noise, return in this "Cocked And Loaded", with a less successful work that quiets some initial criticisms about the quality of this product. A work that is overall fun, catchy, and above all, infectious, but this doesn't mean we should cry miracle.
The album, full of snappy and pounding industrial rhythms, cutting-edge vocal distortions and filters worthy of the best Ministry, reconciles the schizophrenia of Reznor's Nine Inch Nails with many other punk, old school industrial, electronic, noise, metal, and simple mainstream rock influences.

Let's see in more detail the 10 tracks of this work: the album opens with "Fire Engine", a song with an almost symbolic charge, as it immediately makes known the characteristics of the rest of the album. Rapid rhythm, digitalized distortion, and vocal filters on pseudo-screaming voice, with a very simple but catchy melody, a nice piece. It follows with "10 Million Ways To Die", a song almost made for a movie or action videogame, it's a Latin-flavored piece dominated by computerized percussion and a lowered voice, with choruses and scratches as accompaniment. Cute.
The third piece, "Caliente (Dark Entries)", sees Jourgensen's energy perfectly blend with Gibby Haynes' voice from Butthole Surfers in a Bauhaus cover; definitely a more than decent reinterpretation.

"Prune Tang", a very metal-esque piece akin to Nine Inch Nails' 'Downward Spiral', makes clear what we are listening to, that is, a perfect blend of rock, metal, and electronics mixed with punk and new wave synthesizers. "Dead End Streets" (with Jello Biafra), pure industrial like few others, closely resembles the early works of 'Rammstein', with its well-marked rhythm, blast furnace distortions and a generally evil atmosphere, though original and very catchy. "Pole Grinder" takes us a bit back in time, adhering to the general features that made the great Ministry famous. "Jack In The Crack" is another NIN piece that, with its punk/grunge dark atmosphere immersed in synths, is truly appreciable.
"Devil Cock" is simpler metal, with background choruses marking the darkness and the meaning of the track; the piece, in the end, isn't much different from many others, and is possibly the worst of the album. "Viagra Culture" (with Jello Biafra), a psychedelic journey almost like Depeche Mode halfway between old and new style, with the voice giving more rhythm to an already lively piece. The album is concluded by "Revolting Cock Au Lait", which represents the same beginning in clap but modernized like "We Will Rock You" by Queen; it's, in itself, a piece where the distortion connects with the spoken voices that overshadow it (with, among other things, an excellent sense of humor), with a beautiful party vibe that tends to disperse over the overall duration. An interesting piece nonetheless.

The album, with guests like Haynes, Biafra, Nielsen, and Gibbons (of ZZ Top) is ultimately a nice return to the scene for Jourgensen's gang, who despite being a bit older to come back with their somewhat too "explicit" lyrics, expecting who knows what results. The album is in itself enjoyable, but nothing to shout surprise, an average album that will surely be appreciated by old fans, but could easily be criticized by those looking for some innovation certainly less present than believed.

Recommended to industrial maniacs and Cocks fans.