Skinny Puppy are quite possibly my favorite band. There's hardly a moment on any of their albums that doesn't completely fascinate me.

When I first heard them I was just... baffled. And put off. Yet at the same time, oddly intrigued... Even though their music was horribly abrasive and extremely difficult to listen to, I kept getting drawn back in.

Then it clicked. Over a short span of time I bought everything. I would spend late nights listening to the albums in excrutiating detail, trying to figure out what the hell Ogre was shouting about, and where all those horror movie samples came from. This only increased my Skinny Puppy addiction.

Even when I'm listening to something completely unrelated, or in a pleasant mood, there's always something inside my core that burns and hungers for the industrial nightmare that only cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre can unleash. I can't go more than a month without listening to them, sometimes not more than a day.

So that's a brief synopsis of why I'm so into them. And so begins the Skinny Puppy thread. You know the drill: let's hear your comments, criticism, praise, favorite songs, favorite albums, live show experiences, etc. All things Skinny Puppy. Go!

i've only heard rabies and while i found it interesting for the first couple listens, i didn't find that it had much repeat value.

I have never seen them in concert! and the only chance I could have seen them in concert, I was not seeing them.

what happened was they were playing at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, Kansas. that night, my friends and I were watching that movie Double Life of Veronica upstair at Liberty Hall. and Skinny Puppy was playing a concert downstair. I will forever regret this... the first song skinny puppy was playing, the bass so so great that I could feel it underneath my feet. my friends were not into industrial or electronic music at all. I should have ditched my friends and gone to the concert by myself instead...

That's a sad tale. I've never seen them either actually. I have gone to plenty of concerts by myself though. It's just something you have to do if you're friends aren't into the same music.

Skinny Puppy got together a few years ago in Germany for a one-off concert. The results are the Doomsday: Back & Forth, Vol. 5 album, which I haven't heard. I keep hearing rumors that they may get back together, in which case we could have another chance to see them live. Hopefully they don't record something like The Process though. (By far their poorest album, in my opinion).

seriously, I have listened to The Process only 2 or 3 times since I got it. that album never grew on me and probably never will. that's a shame because I really wanted to like their last studio album.

Rabies is not so bad once you acknowledge that it is a bastard son of skinny puppy and Al. Jourgenson from Ministry.

if skinny puppy gets back together, it is not gonna be the same since Goettel is gone, forever...

do you have Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate? that's the one I don't have. and I heard it once a long time ago but I didn't like it all that much.

Yes, I have all their studio albums, including Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate. I definitely like it, but it isn't my favorite. It's kind of a transition album. Overall it sounds more like Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse, the album that preceded it, than VIVIsectVI, the album that came after - but not nearly as good.

In case you're wondering, here's how I'd rank their studio albums:

1. Remission
2. Bites
3. Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse
4. Too Dark Park
5. Back & Forth (the original)
6. Rabies
7. Last Rights
8. Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate
9. VIVIsectVI
10. The Process

As you can tell, I tend to prefer the earlier stuff, but I like it all except for The Process.

I think part of the reason some don't like CFAM is because of Ogre's vocals. They sound about as atonal as they've ever been, before or since. I'd say he even sounds a little less passionate. Musically, it's a step forward, but not the giant step that was VIVIsectVI. Overall, a lot of the songs just aren't as exciting as what came before and after. It's difficult listening, even for SP fans.

As far as individual tracks go, the classics "deep down Trauma Hounds" and "Addiction" don't sound terribly different from the remixes that were added onto the CD release of MTPI. I think "Tear or Beat" is a good track, "Anger" is a very good track and the "Epilogue" is quite interesting, but short.

I think it's worth having if you're really into the group, but otherwise it's not a necessary purchase.

As far as Goettel not being involved in a Skinny Puppy reunion, that doesn't bother me so much. He didn't join the group until Mind, and so wasn't even involved with my favorite two SP albums (Remission, Bites). To me, Skinny Puppy is cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre; if they're working together I'm for it, just as long as they do something better than The Process. From what I've heard of their recent side projects, neither have lost their talent.

Horakhti ,

I thought you would have ranked "Too Dark Park" higher .
What don't you like about it ?

For that matter, I would've thought VIVIsectVI would get a higher rating...

Zephyr, I actually can't think of a single thing that I don't like about Too Dark Park. I just have a preference for the sound that Skinny Puppy had from the beginning to about 1986. It's this 80s/post-punk/goth/synth-type thing, which in general I really really like - but also something entirely unprecedented and unique. I think those three albums don't get as much credit as they deserve for being experimental, but they were way out there for the time. Also, a lot of the individual songs on those albums are my favorites. And I really like the movie samples that they used on those albums, partly because I'm such a film addict.

Having said that, I looove Too Dark Park. It's very close to being my favorite.

Seba, I think VIVIsectVI is a great album (as are all of them besides The Process) but some of the songs just don't click with me. For instance, "VX Gas Attack" sounds kind of forced and cheesy in spots. I could see putting it ahead of Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate, but I don't think I'd rank it much higher than that, personally. I think Rabies is a more successful attempt at achieving what they set out to do on VIVIsectVI. An unpopular opinion, I'm aware.

When it comes down to it, I ranked them according to how often I listen to them, which is really the only honest way to rank music, in my opinion.

What about you guys?