When
40 Below Summer self-released their debut album,
Side Show Freaks, in 1999, rap-metal was huge -- and countless bands were jumping on the
Korn/
Limp Bizkit/
Slipknot/
(hed) pe bandwagon. Some of them did it more skillfully than others; plenty of forgettable rap-metal/nu metal/rapcore bands emerged in the late '90s and early 2000s, while other hip-hop-obsessed metalheads came out with albums that were derivative but good.
Side Show Freaks, which the Phoenix, AZ-based Driven Music Group reissued in 2008, definitely falls into the "derivative but good" category. This 44-minute disc isn't groundbreaking by 1999 standards, let alone 2008 standards. The approach that this New Jersey band favors on
Side Show Freaks -- basically,
Limp Bizkit meets
Slipknot meets
Rage Against the Machine (minus the political rants) meets
Korn -- doesn't pretend to point rap-metal in any new directions. But darned if in your face tracks such as "I'm So Ugly," "Untied," "I'm Still Bleeding," and "Suck It Up" aren't infectious and hooky. Innovative? Definitely not -- in 1999, this type of sound was inescapable (all the nu metal bands that were popular in 1999 owe a huge debt of gratitude to
Run-D.M.C.,
Living Colour,
the Beastie Boys,
Faith No More,
the Red Hot Chili Peppers,
24-7 Spyz, and other risk-takers who brought hip-hop and metal together back in the '80s). Catchy? No question. Although not in a class with
Rage Against the Machine's
The Battle of Los Angeles,
Slipknot's
Slipknot, or
Limp Bizkit's
Three Dollar Bill Y'All,
Side Show Freaks is a decent, worthwhile footnote in the history of rap-metal.