UTAH SAINTS TWO ALBUM ECHO, ROADRUNNER ARCADE MUSIC RELEASE: FEBRUARY 12, 2001 REVIEW: MARCH 1, 2001

It's always good to hear Chuck D's booming voice. Or at least so I thought, until I heard Utah Saints' "Power to the Beats". It combines a sample of the thunderous Public Enemy front man with a riff from Metallica's "Enter Sandman". It's dance music with a metal edge. Not only is it a worn out idea, it's also so cheesy it wouldn't have felt out of place on the latest Apollo 440 album. And that is scary.
Things hardly get better when the Saints attack Iggy and the Stooges' "Search and Destroy" - without a doubt one of the wildest and best rock songs ever - and makes it part of the equally dull "Techknowledgy".
I appreciate Utah Saints' anarchic attitude towards musical genres. But compared to genre meisters KLF's culture jamming tactics they end up feeling pretty vacant. And that R.E.M. ultra bore Michael Stipe is involved in this album is off-putting to the maximum.

KRISTOFFER NOHEDEN