Record Label: Grindco
Genre: Industrial
Band Link:
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What do you get when you cross BMX, NASCAR and industrial music?

Ordinarily, I’d say “something brown and it smells like shit.” But I was surprised to find that Means To An End – fronted by former BMXer and current NASCAR driver Tony “Grinder” Dwyer – isn’t laughably bad.

I mean, it’s still bad, but I managed to get through it. Surprisingly, it’s not over-the-top heavy. I’m sure it sounds like the devil’s music to his NASCAR colleagues, but it’s relatively mellow in terms of today’s industrial. In fact, their midtempo riffing and distorted vocals over old KMFDM-like beats is downright quaint. Luckily, I happen to like this style of industrial, even if it’s cheesy and dated.

But the execution is pretty bad. “This Fist For Free” is a seriously driving tune, and is hard not to like. But the rest of the album falls flatter than a donut peach. The CD is plagued with moody and minimalist filler meant to be ominous a la Nine Inch Nails, but ends up ridiculously lame… a la Nine Inch Nails. An attempt at Rage-like revolution rap-rock on “World Police” is cringe-worthy, and the remix at the end is worse than the Eastern European technotrash they pump at my gym.

That said, it’s probably the best album made by a NASCAR driver.

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