Collectible Humans "String Theory"

When I hear String Theory I feel like I am transported back to the late 90s when I listened to a ton of nu metal (or whatever you want to call it) but it isn't because Collectible Humans are nu-metal...it is the feeling, that anger and frustration being released through music. Really, the feelings are similar to those that I got when listening to early Korn, Rage Against the Machine and Tool. It an odd feeling, one that I think has been missing from a lot of music lately, you can actually feel the emotion going into the words and music, it isn't just to make catchy songs or to make an artistic piece, both Adam Selene and Joshua Coberly (yes I waited this long to tell you who Collectible Humans are, what is your point) use their music as a form of therapy, a release. Some people may view that as a negative but I think that is one of the purest reasons to create art (yes the songs are also catchy, in a slightly disturbing and fun way, and are also artistic.)

Now let me tell you a little bit about the album, the opening track, "Pulling Wings," is what I like to call baby punching music (I do not condone the punching of babies) but it has that pure adrenaline feel to it and it even features George Carlin (according to Kanye and Jay Z he should get a feature so there it is.) But it isn't just angry rap music, they are actually saying something, and that sort of sums up the feeling of the album, pissed off music with a message. But they do a great job of balancing the pure anger with some more upbeat instrumental work (such as "Devil Do") but still has the same punch on their lyrics.

The most fun track on the album easily goes to "Rocket Surgery" with an infectious beat (made more infectious by the work of DJ Addickt,) a Spider-Man/Iron Man spoof, and a dope ass chorus (I use that term loosely), "It's only Hip Hop stupid, it's not rocket surgery." The track ends with a guest appearance from Adam Selene's son, Deacon. I noticed that already I am writing and rambling a lot, but that is because this album holds on to you and gets inside of your brain (for better or worse.) String Theory continues its wonderful job of track sequencing by placing, "To Eat a Human" next, which as you can guess as not exactly a fun song.

The nu metal feel really picks up on the next two track, "Slippery Slope" (which reminds me of a Tool track, you know, if Maynard was a rapper and not one of the best vocalist in the last 30 years) and "She Loves Me Not" (Rage comes to my mind for this one...actually both of the tracks feel as if Rage and Tool came together and created something magical.)

The album concludes with "Blood Plus Grass" which once again features DJ Addickt on the ones and twos. This is easily the most artistic track (in my opinion of course) both with the instrumentation and vocals. You will be listening to this again and again out of curiosity if nothing else. What is going on here between he constantly shifting beat and the range of vocal treatments and total disregard for standard song structure...in other words, this track is amazing and everything you want if you enjoy progressive hip hop.

So yea...I meant to just do a short write up on this but became a bit more...I blame the album for that. If it made me ramble this much, just imagine how much you are going to enjoy it once you press play and let it invade your mind, so do that quickly, think about it later, and thank me in the not to distant future...and of course watch out for the puppet masters.


You can stream and download the album here.