From the Austin American-Statesman, Tuesday January 27th, 1998
"Telepathic Last Words," Course of Empire (TVT) [2 1/2 stars]
Being lost in record company limbo for several years can ruin a band,
but Dallas' brainy metal outfit Course of Empire didn't use its
downtime idly. The group invested time and money in its own studio,
then spent almost a year fine-tuning its third album, "Telepathic
Last Words." That attention to detail shows throughout this noisy
collection.
The album was good enough, anyway, to be picked up by TVT Records
(once the home to Nine Inch Nails) and reworked by one-time NIN
producer John Fryer. Futuristic rockers like "Houdini's Blind" and
"Coming of the Century" are not only smarter than most of the head-
banging material out there these days, but they offer more of that
breakin'-the-law headbanger edge. Course of Empire has always
worked best in the rhythm department, and, thanks to dual drummers
Chad Lovell and Michael Jerome, tracks like "Persian Song" and
"New Maps" are pound-for-pound brilliant.
The album gets weighed down, however, by that ever-present Course
of Empire paranoia. On "Automatic Writing #17," vocalist Vaughan
Stevenson echoes aspiring metal singer David Koresh in more ways
than one, whining, "If you set yourself on fire, they will watch
you burn." In "59 Minutes," which similarly tries to blast the
media, he warns, "All the things that matter here will vaporize
without a trace." Fortunately the music, not the words, matters
most here.
(Course of Empire plays Liberty Lunch on Saturday.)
-- Chris Riemenschneider
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