Let’s face it; the world is going to hell in a hand basket.  Between wars, rising oil prices, global warming, natural disasters and whatever else the media says is bad for us, the shape of humanity is changing.  Enter Anthems for the Damned, Filter’s first record in five years on which Filter captain Richard Patrick tackles everything that is wrong in this world.  Drummer Mika Fineo explains, “It’s the first album where [Patrick] really delved in with a clear head.”

 

Anthems for the Damned is proof that Patrick has a whole new approach.  He spent the last few years battling an alcohol addiction, which Fineo says, “he totally beat.”  Not only does the new record feature Filter’s signature blending of grinding rock and industrial backbones, but it also has some great collaborations with Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit, Black Light Burns), Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, The Vandals) and John 5 (Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie).  Outside of the collaborators, it’s really the topics Patrick covers on the record that make it stand out in the Filter catalog.  Patrick, now surrounded with a powerful cast of band mates including Mitchell Marlow on guitar, John Spiker on bass and Fineo on drums is showing that Filter is definitely back for real.

 

“I think [Patrick] was ready to do a Filter record again,” says Fineo.  Patrick had spent some time over the last few years in another super group called Army of Anyone, which featured Dean and Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots fame, but things didn’t necessarily pan out for the band, which really only lasted for a couple years.  “People are really happy that we’re back,” Fineo says of Filter’s return.  “We’re really excited and you know, it’s just one of those things, it’s kind of a slow burn because we are out here just reminding people that Filter is back.”

 

Sure the cast of characters may be completely different on Anthems for the Damned, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be.  “It’s always been that thing,” says John Spiker, “Like a Nine Inch Nails.  It’s just the type of group where Richard is sort of the constant and the band sort of revolves.”

 

Topically, Patrick holds no restraints discussing war.  The track “Soldiers of Misfortune” is a first person narrative derived from a letter from a Filter fan who enlisted in the Army Reserves to help pay for college and in his last year of school he was deployed to Iraq where he was killed in a rocket attach after just a few days out there.  “I set out to capture the senselessness of the situation,” Patrick is quoted as saying in a press release.  Another track entitled “In Dreams,” which features Wes Borland discusses that the American Dream isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, while “Cold (Anthems for the Damned” is about either escaping the world or falling into the arms of society, as Patrick puts it.  “We like the idea of the album being a snapshot of the world today,” says Spiker. “And it just so happens that a lot of what is going on in the world today is war, dealing with the environment and things like that.”  Spiker says that he thinks it’s interesting to pick up a record years later, like a Crosby Stills and Nash record and be like, “Oh man, here’s what’s going on in the world when they wrote this record,” he says.  Fineo adds, “It’s all about things that have meaning and what [Patrick] stands for.  He went all out on this album.”

 

According to Fineo and Spiker, the fact that Patrick is free from alcoholism definitely changes his presence as the leader of the band.  This example rings true in the band’s live show.  Patrick appears focused, energetic and even larger than life.  His voice is in tip top shape and catching Filter live is a must do for fans new and old.  PUM caught Filter’s set at AugustFest, a one day event featuring bands like Saving Able, P.O.D. and Shinedown, but Filter clearly stole the show.  During their set a fight broke out in the mosh pit and Patrick stopped the show, saying they wouldn’t play again until the fighting stopped.  “There are more important things in this world to worry about than fighting at a rock show,” Patrick announced to the crowd.  Their set was simply a showcase of every popular Filter song, intermixed with new tracks off Anthems for the Damned.

 

Thankfully, Patrick found a way to keep the signature Filter sound, complete with buzzing guitars, aggressive vocal tones and the heart-pounding throb that gives Filter their individuality.  To couple those mainstays with very serious topics makes Anthems for the Damned one powerful record.  Perhaps more bands should worry less about their girlfriend breaking up with them or getting drunk on a Friday night and more about the world that surrounds them.     

 

By: Adam K. Zak III - Senior Editor / Founder