The Trouble With Angels (Deluxe Version)

iTunes Review

By opening with a tune titled “The Inevitable Relapse,” Filter gives a sly hint that their 2010 release is an unapologetic throwback to their post-grunge/industrial-rock hybrid of the ‘90s that yielded “Hey Man, Nice Shot.” Even the album art is a bit reminiscent of the dated design on 1995’s Short Bus. With gargantuan walls of guitar distortion, sinister melodies and dirty dance-floor rhythms that Trent Reznor would dig, “Drug Boy” would sound right at home on a mix alongside Powerman 5000, Alice In Chains and early Marilyn Manson. A departure from the politically themed fourth album Anthems for the Damned, singer Richard Patrick even peppers his lyrical content with topical subjects of the mid ‘90s — both “The Inevitable Relapse” and the more melodic “Drug Boy” touch on substance abuse, while the sultry “Absentee Father” continues the latchkey-kid blues started by Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” in 1991. Bonus tracks on the Deluxe Edition include a Clayton Worbeck mix of “The Inevitable Relapse” that recalls Front 242 as well as flannel-flying ballad “Drowning” and three other archaic tunes perfect for dusting off those Dr. Martens.