Scratching Post :: This Time It's Personal (2000)

Scratching Post is easily one of the most underrated and unrecognized bands in rock today. I find it truly surprising that their brand of metal hasn't caught on. Back in 1997 they broke into the college rock scene with their strong, but fairly green `Flamethrower.' A year later they spawned a huge hit with a metal makeover of an older song `Bloodflame' which was on their 8 track EP `Destruction of the Universe.' The EP sold like mad considering Scratching Post was an independent Canadian band. `This Time It's Personal' is this Toronto based band's fourth album and it definitely delineates a more mature, dingy and menacing tone than their previous outings. While the album may not be as menacing as Scratching Post was hoping it would be, largely due to Nicole's halfway sugar-sweet lollipop vocals, this is without question their strongest and most accessible body of work as of yet.Produced by Peters and Peters, 'This Time It's Personal' melds the usual Garbage-esque electronic beeps and boops effectively. The new sound is not an onslaught of `computer farts,' but rather a resonance that manages to deviate from the norm enough to keep fans and newbies interested.Lyrically 'This Time It's Personal' is some of Nicole Hughes (guitar, vocal) most convincing work as of recent. The majority of the songs are torrid, somewhat twisted love songs like the blistering lead off track 'Fade Away' which is a scathing break-up anthem with an exceptionally jolting chorus.Thankfully, Nicole Hughes vocals have improved dramatically since their prior albums. Her voice no longer screeches through each chorus with valley-girl shrill but rather on `This Time It's Personal' ranges from seductive cooing to bearable and somewhat unexpected screaming. Though Nicole's voice remains far too cute of a noise to fit them comfortably in the metal category.`This Time It's Personal' is a great album for any rock or metal fan. My lone complaint is that it could have been a bit longer. There are essentially only 9 tracks because `Militiagan' is merely an interlude and the disc has a short run time of around 25 minutes. Though these 25 minutes will be 25 minutes that you will want to play over again and again.

1. Fade Away
2. M-Bomb
3. Sleepwalking
4. Pants Down
5. Keep Looking My Way
6. Dragonfire
7. Game Over/Game On
8. Make It Easy
9. Militiagan
10. Wake Up You're on Fire