Under-Rated Albums: Part 2: Pist.On - $ell Out

Continuing with my theme of under-rated albums, I bring you my overview of “$ell Out” by the sadly defunct US act Pist.On. The title of the album (along with the accompanying artwork) was a dig at the media (and even some of their own fans) who had seen fit to label the band as “sell outs” for adapting the spelling of the band name to PistOn at the request of their new record label. There is a knowing smirk and sense of fun about the whole situation, with a dollar sign on the front cover and the band posing for photos, on the inner sleeve, wearing flashy suits, sitting in expensive cars, pretending to be prostitutes, and flashing money around. Unfortunately, it all seemed to backfire on them, as the record failed to sell as well as “Number One”, and the band spilt soon after it’s release. The reason for the name change (it was just the removal of a “.” In reality) was obviously to have the record stocked in stores, and to make the band easier to promote...not, as some people claimed at the time, a cynical attempt to gain mainstream acceptance. Any band wants to reach the biggest audience it can, and the wrong name can, of course, prevent this from happening. All Pist.On are guilty of, is making a small concession in order to get a new record deal and to release their new album. Of course, it could be argued that by choosing the name in the first place, they only have themselves to blame. Personally, I think that this was a minor issue, and has no affect on my opinion of the band or their music. I hope that, by now, you are interested to know what the band sound like...If you are, read on.

Musically, the album continues where the debut left off, with more of their (obviously) The Smiths influenced, moody metal/dark rock. This time however, the order of the day seems to be set more in the camp of rock, with the metal elements considerably toned down. Essentially gone, are the Metallica/Paradise Lost influences, which are replaced with more of a Deftones style and a sense of introspection not found on the first CD. The lyrical themes are, again, loneliness, depression, despair and sadness. Not exactly uplifting stuff you might think, but even though the lyrics are obviously meaningful and genuine, at times they are delivered in an almost ironic way (hey, it works for Morrissey) and are backed up by some top notch song writing.

Once again, the music is helped along nicely by the considerable vocal talents of Mr. Henry Font, who displays his ability to set the mood and tone for any given song, as any good vocalist, in a band such as this at least, should be able to do. Aided by an equal talented band, consisting of Val Ium (hoho) on bass, Burton Gans on guitar and Jeff McManus on drums, Henry sings his way through the 11 songs on offer here in a style that is as reminiscent of Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner, as it is of Deftones’ Chino Moreno. He is often backed by the softer, female vocals, of Val, which adds a lot more depth to the, already, well crafted songs. These are songs of heartbreak, loss, depression and relationship woes. Luckily though, none of this is anywhere near as ´emo´ or as pretentious as it sounds, and, as previously mentioned, owes a bit of a debt to the song writing style and dark humour of the likes of Morrissey and Paradise Lost.

Despite the lyrical themes and, somewhat toned down, ´softer´ style on display here, this is a varied and satisfying album which should appeal to fans of the first album as well as to anyone who is partial to a little Soul Asylum, Deftones, Smiths, Soundgarden and maybe even to fans of 90’s era Metallica or Paradise Lost. Sadly though, this album is a little hard to get hold of, but is certainly worth picking up for a few quid if you can find it.