Turn it Back Around

To My Surprise - To My Surprise

Roadrunner; 2003

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This is a side project of a drummer of a band that I don’t really “get:” Slipknot. But I had to have an open mind, as it fit into the category of uncategorizable psychedelic, oddball side projects. And that is EXACTLY where Lusk fit in, so I had to give this a try.

The opening of this disc caught be off guard and totally reminded me of Feersum Ennjin; actually the two openings are very similar. Not only that, but some of the vocal harmonies throughout are also reminiscent of Feersum Ennjin and Lusk, and I find that really cool. Okay, so add to that mix the oddball, almost forced but maybe not humor and strangeness of Gibby Haynes and His Problem (but NOT of later Butthole Surfers albums). It's cool, it's trippy, and it's for a limited audience, which is probably To My Surprise's ultimate downfall (especially with the built-in audience of Slipknot fans).

If nothing else, this disc is really brave, but it’s a good kind of brave where some guys let themselves play feel-good, off-kilter, easily-hyphenated music that really doesn’t fit anywhere in the spectrum of what commercial music is at the moment. At times, it’s rehashing psychedelica that’s long gone, at times it’s just total feel-good groove, and at times it’s a bit on the doofy side, which can be okay if you’ve got an open mind about the music you listen to.

I say if you have an open mind for strange music, give this a try. It’s fun, and the disc gets better and better as it goes.