Glazba.monitor.hr review of The Will To Death
15th September 2004, from Glazba.monitor.hr (Croatia)
translated by me
John Frusciante has been really active this year. While the Red Hot Chili Peppers have been taking a break, he was spending the time recording his own material, so this would be his second album this year, with five more to be released. All of the material was recorded in less than one month, and The Will To Death songs themselves have taken only two days during December last year and January this year to be completed.
Unlike its preceedor, Shadows Collide With People, this is a pure-blooded lo-fi album, with no special guests or band mates contributing to it. All of the instruments are played by Frusciante and his sidekick Josh Klinghoffer. The electronica-style instrumentals have not their found way here, so the album itself is more law. The simple pop songs found here are bitter and they probably mean something only to Frusciante himself, as he’s moving away from the band with his solo albums as much as it is possible.
Completely intimate and sometimes hard to understand, Frusciante’s songs are drinking up the strength from the author’s own tortured persona, and it’s obvious that his drug-addict past has left a huge trace there. The best songs on the album are A Loop, A Doubt and Far Away and even though they’re the result of a really fast session, their quality is not far away from well-polished RHCP songs.
— Karlo Rafaneli
