STUDIO ALBUMS
METAL RHYTHM (1988)
Additional information :
Metal Rhythm's programmed beats, hustling vocals and 'slippery' guitar throw futuristic funk shapes but the music is also raw, pysched up and brutal. The rock power chords recall Numan's first Tubeway Army album and his adolescent enthusiasm for Iggy Pop and Queen.
Metal Rhythm's mix of sampling technology and guitars is a development from the artist's earlier work, which was never pure synthesizer music. Numan's aggressive production, bitter vocals and dark lyrics pitch it in an artistically fertile area somewhere between Janet Jackson's Control and Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine. Like Reznor's NIN debut, the persona projected on Metal Rhythm is restless, emotionally unstable, scathing about human frailties and flaws, self loathing about his own.
In 1988, after a decade in and out of the spotlight, Numan had changed very little from the edgy young man Jon Savage had interviewed for the Melody Maker in 1979. "Numan talks, white t-shirt, wary eyes, soft voice, in a hotel room," wrote Savage. "He doesn't really understand human nature, or even like people very much - he worries about getting close to people, becoming a product."
For its American release, and against Numan's wishes, the record label changed the album's title to New Anger, changed the artwork colour shade from black to blue, remixed several of its tracks and even replaced two tracks ("Hunger" and "Young Heart") with tracks originally recorded for Numan's sixth solo studio album Berserker (1984).
Text by Steve Malins. (From the Metal Rhythm sleeve notes)