Primus - The Desaturating Seven: Album Review

So the weird thing about Primus is… [laugh track]

The thing in general about Primus is if you asked me if they’re worth listening too, I would wholeheartedly say “yes”. If you were to then follow up and ask, “why” I would be at a loss for words. Primus is weird beast, the culmination of the progressive and alt rock sound of bands like Tool and Butthole Surfers only not doing anything close to the style of either. On top of that their albums tend to get bloated or downright boring due to their discography becoming less and less complex while upping the weird factor with every release until it just becomes apparent that they are trying too hard.

And now we have The Desaturating Seven, Primus’s first album of new material since Green Naugahyde (I won’t bring it up again if you don’t) and leaving me still unable to describe exactly why Primus is good… except by saying that Primus is good.

The Desaturating Seven is a 7 track concept album from Primus inspired by “The Rainbow Goblins”, a children's book. I have no idea what the book is about, but the album tells the story of 7 goblins who go around stealing color, and make a plan to steal color from The Valley of The Rainbow, the only place not to be affected by their color stealing powers. It’s a story that definitely sounds like Primus alright, but how’s the execution?

The Desaturating Seven sees Primus taking a more modest approach to their sound. The distortion is a little lighter, there is only 7 tracks, and the runtime is just barely over 30 minutes, creating a dense, but tight package. With only 7 tracks, it can feel a little on the light side, but what Desaturating Seven lacks in length, it makes up for in density. Primus’s lighter attitude lets them get back to the root of their sound: progressive alt rock. That means bizarre riffs with a steady driving bassline, with Les Claypool’s goofy vocals and Tim Alexander’s guitars creating a very unique sound. Most songs follow the verse-chorus-verse format with the occasional time change, and the riffs actually in those songs follow the more psychedelic flavor of Primus’s sound. The exception to this is “The Storm”, an 8 minute long track that feels like something in scale and style closer to Rush than Primus. It’s a good change up either way.

So all this sounds good… so why do I not love this album? I certainly like it, but why am I not in love with it? After some consideration I’ve come to the conclusion that The Desaturating Seven plays Primus’s sound a little too safe. References to drugs, pork sodas and other such odd things, plus the lack of distortion or wacky solos makes the whole album feel a little flat. In Primus’s attempt to make a more serious and straightforward concept, they’ve sacrificed the unusual and unexpected nature their brand of alt-prog usually has. There’s exceptions of course like the aforementioned “The Storm” and “The Trek” which play around with the absurdity a bit more, but in the grand scheme of Primus’s discography, The Desaturating Seven seems bland by comparison.

Smaller, stripped down, more accessible, are all friendly words I could use to describe The Desaturating Seven, but at the end of the day the only word of judgement I can say with any honesty is “underwhelming”. Catchy as some of its songs may be, The Desaturating Seven is a modest album from a band who shouldn’t even concern themselves with modesty.

6/10