BIGdumbFACE

It always amazes me when a member of a band I hold in low regard branches out and does something that is not only unlike anything he's done before, but is actually very good. But such is the case with the debut from BIGdumbFACE, Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland's solo side project. Free from the insipid whiney frat-rap of Fred Durst and the restrictions of the cookie-cutter nu-metal shit-hop of his day job, Borland proves that anything that's remotely good about Limp Bizkit is all his doing. On Duke Lion..., Borland takes care of everything, from the album art to writing all the words and music to playing pretty much all the instruments on his own. The result is an odd combination of Gwar-inspired mock death metal and the quirky pop of Ween, with dashes of They Might Be Giants and Frank Zappa thrown in for good measure. Good fun and a hell of a lot better than that other thing Borland's mixed up in.