Deaf Dumb Blind

Sounding something like a pale, staccato Big Daddy Kane rapping over mechanical metal guitar marches, vocalist Zak Tell and Clawfinger mix in a little ‘80s hip-hop with their ^The Real Thing-era Faith No More aesthetic on this '93 debut. Tell, Jocke Skog (keyboards, drum programming,) Erlend Ottem (guitars,) and Bard Torstensen (guitars) made quite a splash in Europe with this their best-selling release, winning numerous awards including two Swedish Grammies. More industrial than late ‘90s American hard-hop giants Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit, Clawfinger's delivery is uptight and repetitive by comparison. Lyrically, Tell treads the familiar ground of unnecessarily vulgar, monolithic verbage that comes off as pedestrian at best and painfully corny when the Swede's sexually violent English imagery is at its worst. Clawfinger are hardly unique with regard to their silly new-metal lyrics, and the band's musically impressive songwriting — most evident during the choruses of standout tracks “Don't Get Me Wrong" and “Sad to See Your Sorrow" — generally makes up for the second-language blundering. Lacking the innovation of this debut, subsequent releases achieved comparatively little commercial and critical success, leaving Deaf Dumb Blind as the first, and perhaps the only Clawfinger disc needed to round out any old school rap-metal collection. — Vincent Jeffries.