Collide: Distort

After their successful debut release of "Beneath the Skin," and a few EP's, Collide is following up with a full-length CD of remixes and cover songs (the most amusing being a cover of Devo's "Whip It"). Remix CDs are always a twitchy propostion as criticism always ensues for "lack of creativity." Of course, remix CDs also tend to be loaded up with around 70 minutes of songs, and you sometimes get some very interesting remixes. "Distort" consists of 10 remixes, 3 cover songs and one original song. Nonetheless, kaRIN and Static return with another strong release that still retains creativity in some very interesting remixes (although I think they should have included their "Felix the Cat" theme they released on the TV Terror compilation). Even though I really enjoyed this CD, I would have to say that "Beneath the Skin" is a bit better. "Beneath the Skin" defined Collide's unique sound and style, and while "Distort" does retain most of that, it fails to capture all of the soul of "Beneath the Skin." It has a slightly more generic sound to it. That's not to say it is bad..."Distort" definately has it's moments, but if you have to choose between "Beneath the Skin" and "Distort," I would go with the former. Unless, of course, you are absolutely dying to hear "Whip It-Version 2.0." Of course it is a just remix album, so I will be looking forward to Collide's next album.