Henry Rollins is the closest thing to a superhero the music world has. He has a hulking stage presence, but at the same time he’s an intellectual. Henry Rollins is a great lead singer and his band; the Rollins band is also very good. Weight is the CD that they made some mainstream success with. It’s the only Rollins Band album I own, but after hearing Weight I may be inclined to go out and purchase another Rollins band album because it is very good.

the spoken word guy

I was talking to a friend about music one day and I mentioned the name Henry Rollins. He replied “oh yeah, the spoken word guy”. Henry Rollins is known for his spoken word albums. Henry Rollins spoken word style is reflected in his singing. He has a raspy voice but he sings a lot like he talks. This is good because you can understand every word out of his mouth and that’s a good thing because Rollins’ lyrics are divine, they are pure poetry. He talks about a broad range of topics from cops to man-hating women and how he thinks that it’s wrong to generalize an entire sex. To me, Henry Rollins sounds like an old angry blues singer but on PCP. He sounds like BB King if he got really angry and started singing with tons of fury. I’m not sure if other people think of Rollins this way. In a few songs, especially “Liar” Henry Rollins sometimes just does straight up spoken word over music. He’s not even singing, he’s just talking. The spoken word style fits the music very well.

The Rollins Band

Henry Rollins is only one part of the Rollins band. He has a very talented band that backs his awesome lyrics. The instrumental is very inventive and imaginative. It’s not something you’ve heard before. The Henry Rollins band plays a combination of metal, blues, and some jazz. This may song like a lot of genre bending but the songs are actually more like metal with a touch of blues and jazz. The Rollins band has hard driving guitars at some times and other times they have more mellow deep trippy guitars. The instrumentals speed is usually relative to the amount of anger that Rollins is showing. Rollins is a very angry man and he gets it all out of this record. For those of you who like happy albums, you might want to stay away from Weight. I really like the bass work of Melvin Gibbs. He plays pounding bass lines that rock the house. At times though he plays fast funky bass lines. The guitarist is also very talented. He plays some very good metal solos. The solos aren’t cheesy though, not like 80s metal solos.

I’m a bomb that you can’t diffuse, a gun that you can’t unload - From “Volume 4”

The Songs

1. Disconnect - Great
2. Fool - Great
3. Icon - Good
4. Civilized - Great
5. Divine Object of Hatred - Good
6. Liar - Great
7. Step Back - Good
8. Wrong Man - Great
9. Volume 4 - Great
10. Tired - Great
11. Alien Blueprint - Good
12. Shine - Great

Stand-Out Tracks

“Liar” – This was the single that the Rollins band released. It actually got some play on MTV. This song has a sort of jazz sound to it. It has a lot of Henry Rollins doing spoken word, and then it kicks into a heavy, fast rocking song.

“Shine” – This is my favorite song on the album. It sounds funky and upbeat in the beginning. Henry Rollins does more spoken word stuff in the beginning. The topic of this song is kind of disturbing. Henry Rollins tries to convince you that suicide is an option.

Similar Artists: Black Flag, Bad Brains, and Clutch (sorry it’s hard to think of bands that sound like the Rollins back)

The Rollins Band Is

Henry Rollins – Vocals
Chris Hasket – Guitar
Melvin Gibbs – Bass
Sim Cain – Drums

Nick’s Final Thought

This album is a work of art. It’s good from beginning to end. It doesn’t just have a great instrumental but it has great lyrics courtesy of Henry Rollins. I think that this album transcends genres and can be appreciated by most fans of any type of “hard” music. If you’re feeling angry just pop in this CD, Your anger will seem insignificant to that of Henry Rollins.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving