The significance of Prong’s contributions to heavy metal, and heavy music, cannot be understated. Frontrunners in the industrial metal movement since their 1991 release Prove You Wrong (though the band formed in the mid ’80s), Prong’s influence has cast a vast shadow upon many metal (and not-so metal) bands, including such notable names as Korn, Nine Inch Nails and Static X. Not as abrasive or obscure as Godflesh, Prong’s comparatively more accessible traits logically laid the foundation for the mainstream sounds and success obtained by the aforementioned pop-inclined artists.
However the band’s “true” metal credibility, or underground heavy music street cred, is without question (members of Swans and Killing Joke have made their rounds through Prong). But more importantly, Prong was one of the first metal bands, along with Pantera, to lay so much focus upon the start-stop, chunky riffing that defined metal in the ’90s.
With Power of the Damn Mixxxer, even when the remixes don’t work (as with the nu-metal tinged interpretation of “Looking For Them,” filtered through the mind of a member of Dope), the underlying strength of Prong’s songs still manage to beam forth. On the flipside, Prong’s bottom-heavy crunch, melodic sensibilities and hook-laden catchiness is augmented with simultaneously brutish yet dance club friendly electronic music filtrations (as with the unsurprisingly impressive “Worst of It” remix by Pitchshifter’s Jon Clayden). Elsewhere, Dillinger Escape Plan’s Greg Puciato presses “Bad Fall” through a filthy Swans-like grinder that climaxes with a short-circuiting, drilling electronic pulse. Power of the Damn Mixxxer will keep Prong fans at bay until their next studio release slated for 2010. Thoroughly enjoyable.
