Confounding all comers since 1997, Chicago's American Heritage have made a career out of challenging established songwriting conventions, and their 2004 release, Bipolar, although comprising an assortment of unrelated tracks culled from several different eras and lineups from over those years, is certainly no different. In fact, one would think it'd be all the more unpredictable for it, right? But despite boasting eternally restless and serpentine arrangements, intense instrumental workouts like "Pole to Hole," "Ass to Ass" and, err, "Phil Collins," strangely tend to blend into one another in a rather unclear fashion. Sure, each one invariably sees the band embarking on a mind-bending game of musical Twister, but with virtually identical end results: oddball shapes that seem as impossible to achieve, as they are easy to forget. Maybe this is due to the above three tracks' mutual origins in one particularly uninspired session, because ensuing instrumentals "Yzzo" and "Star of David" fare slightly better, as do all three songs enhanced by Adam Norten's guttural growls, unintelligible though they may be. These include intriguingly assembled opener "Everyone Knows They Lied to Us" (by far the album's standout moment), the mysterious "Spina Bifida," and the full-tilt-gonzo blowout of "Forget." Oh yeah, and any similarities between the latter and the work of hyperactive metalcore top dogs Mastodon are no mere coincidence, since the two bands have traced somewhat parallel evolutions, toured together, and even joined forces for a split single in 2003. For all of their daring experiments, however, American Heritage are clearly no Mastodon, and one need only observe their continued confinement to the heaviest, deepest heavy metal underground to suss that much out. Whether the recent addition of vocals to their songwriting mix constitutes a first deliberate attempt to get out of that underground remains to be seen, but, for now, Bipolar constitutes an article of decidedly selective, not widespread, consumption. [Also worth noting is the presence of four unlisted and uncharacteristically brief but pure hardcore tracks tailing off the CD.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
Tracks
Track Title
Composers
Performers
Time
Everyone Knows They Lied to Us
Scott Shellhamer, Ray Donato, Mike Duffy, Adam Norden
Scott Shellhamer, Ray Donato, Mike Duffy, Adam Norden
(5:09)
Pole to Hole
Scott Shellhamer, Mike Duffy, Andrei Cabanban, Adam Norden
Scott Shellhamer, Mike Duffy, Andrei Cabanban, Adam Norden
(5:59)
Phil Collins
Adam Norden, Mike Duffy, Andrei Cabanban, Scott Shellhamer
Adam Norden, Mike Duffy, Andrei Cabanban, Scott Shellhamer
(4:38)
Spina Bifida
Ray Donato, Mike Duffy, Scott Shellhamer, Adam Norden
Ray Donato, Mike Duffy, Adam Norden
(5:51)
Ass to Ass
Andrei Cabanban, Adam Norden, Scott Shellhamer, Mike Duffy
Andrei Cabanban, Adam Norden, Scott Shellhamer, Mike Duffy
(6:09)
Forget
Scott Shellhamer, Adam Norden, Ray Donato, Mike Duffy
Scott Shellhamer, Adam Norden, Ray Donato, Mike Duffy
(7:32)
Yzzo
Adam Norden, Mike Duffy, Scott Shellhamer, Andrei Cabanban
Adam Norden, Mike Duffy, Scott Shellhamer, Andrei Cabanban
The album was initially planned as a double album consisting of one disc of rock music (Skabz) and one disc of hip hop music (Bomb Tha System). Before the album's release, it was decided that the two parts of the album would be released on one disc, with each part labeled.[1][2] Each side of the booklet features a different cover for each part. Skabz features appearances from heavy metal music figures such as Josh "Gnar" Brainard, Roy Mayorga, and Billy Milano. Bomb Tha System notably features appearances from Insane Poetry's Psycho, Chuck D (of Public Enemy fame), the Insane Clown Posse, and Wu-Tang Clan affiliate La the Darkman.[1][3] In the initial publicity for the album, Vanilla Ice claimed that the album would feature a guest appearance from Lenny Kravitz.[4] Although Vanilla Ice is credited as "V-Ice" and "Ice" on the album, there was never any intent to change his stage name. The performer is quoted as saying "people are asking me that question [...] there's no name change. I'm proud of it and I'm not trying to run from anything or hide from anything."[2]
Release and reception
Two singles were released, "Nothing is Real" and "Get Your Ass Up".[5]Bomb tha System was reissued under the title Hot Sex on July 22, 2003.[6][7]
According to a Sony BMG executive, sales of Bi-Polar were "not bad...for Vanilla Ice. That's pretty respectable. Seriously."[8]
Bradley Torreano of Allmusic greatly disliked the album, calling it "wildly uneven and at times hilariously bad". Torreano referred to the album's heavy metal-influenced songs as being "terribly generic" and derivative of bands such as Korn and Deftones. Torreano praised the production of the hip hop songs, but described Van Winkle's lyrics as "boring and simplistic", and felt that the inclusion of the phone messages at the end of the album was not necessary. Torreano called "Elvis Killed Kennedy", "the best song on the album" and described it as "a sadly rare example of the talent that [Chuck D] still has".[9]The New Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the album one out of five stars.[10]
^Kemp, Rob (2004). Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. ed. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (fourth edition ed.). Simon and Schuster. pp. 843–844. ISBN 0743201698.
