After the blazing angst and fire captured at Woodstock '99, the aggressive metal edge of
Korn and
Limp Bizkit had mainstream listeners by the throats without TRL fervor. After that horrific event, new millennium hard rock became corporate, but Montreal's
Slaves on Dope received the royal treatment when it came to delivering their own brash metal rock.
Ozzy Osbourne made
Slaves on Dope the first to be signed to his Divine Recordings, and with open arms the band jumped the bandwagon of tailored rebellious rock & roll. From the Mainline Inches,
Slaves on Dope's debut, was issued in fall 2000 and the attitude is instantly all too familiar. Frontman
Jason Rockman shrieks with vocalic intensity, nearly mimicking
Slipknot and
NIN's
Trent Reznor. The majority of the record relies on the shrills and screams layered around
Rob Urbant's thunderous percussion. Negative lyrical imagery is lackluster, falling short of what might have been recognized as a pinch-hitting effort by the band itself. Unfortunately, From the Mainline Inches doesn't add up to the scene that riled the press throughout the late '90s. It's really too bad for
Slaves on Dope, for even impressive big name-dropping can't assist in delivering a decent record.