On the one hand, I typically despise writing about remix records but on the other, I love the Lord Of Lard. That said, I’ve recently come to the realization (Or was it a revelation?) that a remix album done right is akin to a new album unto itself utilizing the ebb and flow a regular record would have in place. As is the case with Drugged, Dangerous, & Damned which takes that embedded Raymond Watts DNA found in all the tracks and tweaks them to somehow dig down deeper in the roots to present listeners with a coherent collection of tracks that’s like classic KMFDM and early Skinny Puppy. In fact, the only flaw found here is the fact that the release should’ve been timed more perfectly to actually coincide with Halloween. We’ll take five days removed, though, and move on.
But I digress.
“Drugged, Dangerous, & Damned” is a revelation. Remixed by Jagz Kooner, the track is a throbbing, thumping, Gospel-tinged Industrial Dance celebration from the man responsible for some of your most favorite Industrial anthems of the ’90’s followed by “Rock N Roll Refugee” which continues the trend of creating bouncing bangers from the already infectious world of PIG with an update from one of our current faves in the Darkwave/Goth/Electro realm, Night Club. “Seed Of Evil” is a relentless race of pulsating synth and beats from the legendary Die Krupps while another ’90’s Industrial icon, Richard Patrick, gets in on the action with Filter taking on “Mobocracy” and transforming it into this subtle yet sinister statement riddled with a subdued intensity.
Watts’ own remix of “Rock N Roll Refugee” is simply marvelous. Fabulous even and as flashy as a certain sequined with fringe-jacketed front person proudly belting out “Juke Joint Jezebel” to this day before Youth Code brings the heavy with another interpretation of “Pain Is God”. The second appearance of this track on Drugged… is everything you’d expect from the Los Angeles duo going so far as to hearken back to ’97’s Wrecked (“The Only Good One’s a Dead One” especially) with its’ immediacy and in-your-face attitude accented by Sara Taylor’s gruff, throated vocal presence throughout.
Another pass at the title track with Jagz presenting the “Clean Short” version is a fun retread through the earlier rollicking romp leading into an epic finale with John Fryer’s third version of “Pain Is God” yielding a truly transcendent listening experience as this airy, haunting rendition of the track brings Drugged, Dangerous, & Damned to a fitting close.
Drugged, Dangerous, & Damned is out on November 5th through Armalyte Industries. Stay tuned to this location here for limited edition vinyl and digital copies and then follow all things PIG and Raymond Watts by clicking here, here, or here.