Filter

Former Nine Inch Nails collaborator Richard Patrick joined forces with programmer Brian Liesegang in Filter and made an immediate impact with "Hey Man, Nice Shot," the breakout single from the debut album, Short Bus. Widely -- and, according to Filter, incorrectly -- interpreted as a darkly sardonic tribute to Kurt Cobain, the song was as significant for its sonics as for its disturbing imagery. It finds a middle ground between grunge's world-weary sense of melody and industrial rock's icy steel-pulse rhythms. But Short Bus otherwise fails to take its Nails-Nirvana hybrid beyond formula.

With Liesegang departed, Patrick jettisons the mutter-then-scream approach on Title of Record, choosing instead to expose the vulnerability behind the jackboot-and-trench-coat pose. Folk guitar underpins a postindustrial ballad, "Take a Picture," and Eastern percussion puts an intoxicating spin on "Miss Blue." Patrick can croon, but his sensitivity, such as it is, is oppressively downcast, and too many of the songs rehash the Jekyll-and-Hyde dynamics that became alternative rock's creative downfall. The Amalgamut, with Filter reconfigured as a four-piece rock band, is Patrick's uninspired bid to keep up with the Ozzfest new-metal audience. (GREG KOT)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide