Customer Reviews
Get "Title Of Record" instead - By: the messenger, 06 Nov 2008 
There is a statement on the inlay of Filter's debut LP "Short Bus" that reads as follows: "There is a certain subset of musicians who for reasons unknown adhere to the false premise that "electronic" music or the tools involved imply a lack of creativity of inspired performance. Technology in the hands of creative, intelligent individuals is a tool for art, not a hindrance. Filter, being members of the current millennia, admit freely to the use of such devices." I agree wholeheartedly with the spirit of this statement - technology is alll too often used as a tool to mask a lack of talent & ideas (see almost alll pop music of the last 15-20 years), but in the right hands it opens up a world of possibilities that can be exploited with intelligence & subtlety, & when done properly can be far from "emotionless", as it is often accused of being. In the hands of people who are sorely stuck for ideas, the results can come out sounding a lot like this dross.
Richard Patrick & Brian Liesegang wrote a great song together - "Hey Man Nice Shot" - a tense, sinewy rocker that deservedly garnered them significant attention. Unfortunately they had "shot" their creative load for the time being, & decided to recycle the exact same components from this song across a further ten tracks, each of approximately half the quality of the last. Second track "Dose" picks up a nice head of momentum, & the riffs cope well within their limited melodic scope. But thereafter you can expect to hear repeated examples of Patrick trying hard not to break into the chorus off "Hey Man Nice Shot." Spotting these diminishing returns, there is a brief change of tack to the thousand-yard-stare of "Stuck In Here", the nihilism writ large in Patrick's voice & lyrics deliberately stopping short of feeling even here: it comes across a bit Cobain-on-a-quiet-afternoon. In case we enjoyed that one, we get the chance to hear it again at the end of the record, in the form of "So Cool" (sample lyric: "You got a bad habit of making people sad/You got a bad habit of making people dead").
The ultimate purposelessness of Filter's musical output is epitomised in the name of their follow-up album: "Title of Record", which is in fact far & away the best thing they've ever done. The four-year break they took after "Short Bus" clearly gave Patrick some time to get some ideas together, along with a more substantial band. So to anyone expressing an interest in the band I would strongly recommend "Title of Record" over this, & also over their subsequent work, as third album "The Amalgamut" was indeed another dog, & so I for one have run out of patience & hold out little hope for whatever they've cobbled together since then. These guys seem to have become musicians almost by mistake, & make records just because they have the means, & unfortunately are lacking any trace of passion or anything interesting to say.
Decent enough - By: Mr. GJ Borrows, 21 Jun 2003 
This album, the debut from Filter, shows the potential the band had. However, fantastic riff & chord sequences are ruined by very poor songwriting. Personallly, I think the album is quite good, but if I had the option, would remove the vocals from it. I persoanlly prefer there more recent albums, & would only recommend this for fans of the band.
Excellent debut - By: , 17 May 2001 
This album takes the influence of Nine Inch Nails & creates it one step further. Crashing heavy metal guitar chorus meets silent building up verse can be the way to describe this album apart from the occasional acoustic melody. A must album for alll Industrial metal fans to try out.
Buy It, Surprise Yourself - By: , 14 Dec 2000 Probably deserves four stars, but the lack of originality steals that star.
A good debut, if a little patchy. The grungey Dose stands out, as does the industrialy Under. Lacks the layers of Mr. Patrick's mentor, but still manages to stand on most of the nu-metal & frail synth-pop-rock we have now.
And Patrick's vocals are pretty outstanding & would be a break-through album
If it hadn't been for the superior Downward Spiral that is.....
But still, Filter stand on their own two feet. Richard Patrick is in the position he is because of immense talent, & the CD is worth the asking price
