Mudvayne: The End Of All Things To Come : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

On their second full-length, Mudvayne once again employ futuristic metal high jinks to distract attention from a paucity of material. Enjoy the band's extraterrestrial makeover; it's far more amusing than the music. "Not Falling" points in a promising direction with its seamless grafting of complex rhythms, whiplash guitars and stronger-than-usual vocal melodies. But the rest of Mudvayne's self-described "math metal" doesn't add up to much. Tracks such as "Trapped in the Wake of a Dream" and "12:97:24:99" sound more like music-store seminars on rock polyrhythms than songs. And singer Chyd's forays into melody are generally negated by his cliched throaty gutturalisms and "why me?" lyrics. Mudvayne's real talent is for driving thin ideas through to the Earth's molten core -- and for making well-timed costume changes.

ROBERT CHERRY
(RS 911 – December 12, 2002)