Undercover
21st July 2004, Undercover (Australia)
John Frusciante is going to be a very busy boy over the coming year. ‘The Will To Death’ is his first out of six albums (one every two month for the next year) plus the Red Hot Chili Peppers live album commitments. This lack of time does shine through on his songwriting, but as expected he is a guitar prodigy.
The biggest difference here to what you might’ve heard before from Frusciante is the band. It is recorded entirely by Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer, and doesn’t really click between instruments. The drums are simple and not very well recorded, and his voice isn’t anything to get overly excited about.
The album opens with ‘A Doubt’, a fairly simple exercise in music before moving into ‘An Exercise’, slightly more complex, much slower and what seems to be filled with strange riffs for the sake of sticking it to the 4/4.
‘Time Runs Out’ utilizes strange effects. He sounds like he is singing down a pipe… an interesting effect, but why? ‘Loss’ actually raises the bar with no strange effects just simply music and an actual passionate vocal.
‘A Loop’ begins a capella before some strange and very subtle percussion sounds come in under Frusciante’s vocals and some truly amazing guitar work is laid over the top. It might not sound that amazing at first, but there are several tracks laid down on top of each other here, that harmonize as though god herself laid it there.
The music is stripped back just a little during ‘The Days Have Turned’, where you see the true John Frusciante in all his obviousness. As he sings about “awaiting life as another man” you get the impression of an ex hard drug addict who has had a rough life.
This album isn’t anything to rush out and buy unless you’re a diehard fan, but with five more on the way, this could turn out to be a brilliant first chapter to a six part story! Who knows?
—Tim Cashmere
