misguided

Misguided
Studio album by Argyle Park
Released	March 21, 1995
Recorded	Circle Studio, New York City
Genre	Industrial rock Industrial metal
Length	65:40
Label	R.E.X. Records
Producer	Celldweller
Professional reviews
The Phantom Tollbooth link
Argyle Park chronology
Misguided (1995) Suspension of Disbelief (2000)

Misguided is Argyle Park's first and only album under that name. The album was released by R.E.X. Records into the Christian rock market, and sits alongside other early 90s work by Circle of Dust and Mortal as being instrumental in introducing industrial music to the Christian music scene.

Misguided is a diverse album that combines elements such as techno, metal guitar, ragtime piano, horns, samples, and dark vocals,^[1] and is notable for melding industrial metal with electronic dance music, an uncommon mix at the time;^{[citation needed]} members cited influences such as Portishead and jazz being responsible for the experimentation on the album.^[2] It also features a wide variety of guest appearances by other alternative Christian bands and mainstream industrial bands of the mid 90s. The lyrics generally center around themes of betrayal, bitterness, and emotional pain, with band members and associates at various times hinting that the album was acting as catharsis for a child abuse situation at the church they all attended while growing up.^[2][3][4] The resultant thematic darkness of the album caused its reception to be mixed, with many Christian listeners protesting the lack of positive content, even going so far as to call it "anti-Christian".^[2] R.E.X. themselves attempted to censor the band before the album's release, deeming the outro verse of the song "Doomsayer" as being too controversial and cutting it from the song. The band, however, inserted the cut snippet onto the end of the album master tape before R.E.X. noticed and the outro now appears as a hidden track at the very end of the CD.^{[citation needed]} The controversy and backlash caused the band members to shut Argyle Park down two years after conception.^[5]

Tommy Victor of Prong wrote the main riff for the song "Doomsayer", and later used this same riff in the Prong song "Controller".^[4] Originally released on R.E.X. Records, the album was re-issued as a limited run in 2005 by Retroactive Records with bonus tracks, additional booklet information, and enhanced ROM material on the disc.^[6]

Track listing

R.E.X. Records CD

1. "Refuge" (Argyle Park, Buka) – 1:13
   • guest vocals: Jim Thirlwell
2. "Headscrew" (Argyle Park, Dred, Deathwish, King Salomon, Buka) – 4:57
   • guest vocals: Christy Sweet, Celldweller, King Salomon, Klank
3. "Agony" (Argyle Park, Celldweller) – 5:15
   • guest vocals: Gyro
   • guest shouts during chorus: Dirk Lemmenes, Gyro, Jeff Bellew, Ted Cookerly
   • bass: Alabama King Fish
4. "Futile" (Argyle Park) – 1:41
   • horns: Keith Corp
5. "Scarred for Life" (Dred, Celldweller) – 4:18
6. "A Burden's Folly" (Buka, Deathwish, Dred, Celldweller) – 2:29
7. "Circle" (Deathwish) – 3:04
   • guest vocals: Christy Sweet
8. "Leave Me Alone" (Argyle Park, Dred, Lauren Boquette) – 5:31
   • guest vocals: Lauren Boquette
   • extra percussion: Marco Forcone
   • piano: Alabama King Fish
9. "Violent" (Deathwish, Dred) – 4:29
   • guest vocals: Evol Eye Jeni, Celldweller
10. "Diesel" (Argyle Park) – 1:02
11. "Gutterboy (I Am I Am)" (Dred, Buka) – 4:00
    • guest vocals: Jeff Bellew, Dirk Lemmenes, King Salomon
12. "Og" (Og) – 1:19
13. "Misanthrope" (Buka, Dred) – 4:37
14. "Skin Shed Pt. 1" (Deathwish, Dred, Celldweller, Tommy Victor) – 2:19
    • guest vocals: Tommy Victor, Celldweller
15. "Skin Shed Pt. 2" – 2:28
16. "Skin Shed Pt. 3" – 2:19
17. "Doomsayer" (Argyle Park, Tommy Victor, King Salomon) – 4:23
    • guest vocals: King Salomon
    • guitar and bass: Tommy Victor
18. "Uffern" (Deathwish) – 4:51

Following "Uffern", a number of silent tracks, each under a minute long, separated the three hidden features from the bulk of the album and from each other.

Hidden Tracks:
26. Phone Conversation About "Skin Shed" – 2:08
29. Message From Og ("Get It On (Bang A Gong)" Improv) – 1:53
34. Doomsayer (Original Ending) – 0:59

vinyl pressing

There were only three pressings of the album on vinyl, each of which were given to members of the band. One of these was eventually purchased by a fan, who confirmed that the vinyl edition of the album contained an extra track, "Babylon". This same song had been included on Klay Scott's 1998 Circle of Dust album Disengage, and presumably would have been one of the songs included on Buka's Backwoods Records compilation (see Backwoods on the Argyle Park wiki page).

Release History

Contributors

Most of the contributors to Misguided appeared under aliases or alternate spellings of their commonly known names. Their real identities, if known, are listed here.

Main Members

• Buka: still unidentified officially, though thought to be one Chris Martello, a producer at MTV in New York
• Deathwish and Dred: aliases of Klayton, who also produced the album using the name Celldweller

Guest Appearances

• Jim Thirlwell of Foetus
• Klank: Daren Diolosa, guitarist of Circle of Dust and, later, frontman of his own band Klank
• Gyro: Jyro Xhan of Mortal
• Tedd Cookerly, vocalist from Every Day Life
• Lauren Boquette and Marco Forcone from Drown
• Tommy Victor of Prong
• King Salomon: Mark Salomon, vocalist from Stavesacre
• Dirk Lemmenes, bass player from Stavesacre
• Jeff Bellew from CHATTERbOX and Stavesacre
• Evol Eye Jeni: unknown
• Alabama King Fish: unkown
• Keith Corp
• Christy Sweet
• Chris Donahue, bassist for Circle of Dust
• Og: John Lopez, bassist for Circle of Dust

References

Argyle Park – Misguided: Automatapedia