Perversion (album)
"Perversion" is a 1998 album by Industrial Rock act Gravity Kills. During an online chat session on April 17, 2000, the band disclosed that the title of the album was originally going to be "Whore", but their record label TVT Records thought it was not a good idea. Two days before manufacturing the CDs, the band decided on the name 'Perversion' instead.
| Perversion | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 9, 1998 September 6, 1998 | |||
| Recorded | Mr. Blood, Upper Room Studios, St. Louis | |||
| Genre | Industrial rock Industrial metal Electronic rock Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 40:45 (U.S.) 40:50 (UK) | |||
| Label | TVT (U.S.) Dragnet Records (Germany) | |||
| Producer | Roli Mosimann, Gravity Kills | |||
| Gravity Kills chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Perversion | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    |
| eMusic | |
On the front cover of the album, there is writing that says "Safe Handling Instructions" and information, protection and instructions on how to keep clean and alive written underneath. Possibly the songs and graphic designs references the signs of meat or poultry, viruses or bacteria and illness or diseases. Inside the case (where there are two pictures split up in half), on the left is a picture of Jeff Scheel tied to a chair and rapidly moving his head back and forth. On the right, there is the band members Doug Firley, Matt Dudenhoeffer and Kurt Kerns near the right corner listening to something with headphones. There are pigs in both pictures.
Song Information
Drown
TVT Records wanted "Drown" to be one of the singles from Perversion but was rejected and refused by band and the band told them we would never play it live, but went top 10 in one of Germany's charts in 1998.
Disintegrate
"Disintegrate" was going to be a single, but the band refused to play the song live so the label changed singles on the album. And the lyrics "I'm still making love to it" sometimes get confused with the words "I'm still making love too wet".
If
"If" was actually supposed to be the first single from Perversion as picked by the band but the record label forced a different song. The song was actually written in response to a local St. Louis music journalist that hated the band.
Crashing
In Kurt Kerns's opinion, He thought that Crashing had the best bass line ever.
Release and Reception
Before Perversion was released, a promotional CD was released under the name 'Perversion' in 1998, which contained all of the album's songs and had "Drown" titled as "Drowned" (or sometimes as "Drowning"), this song was renamed before official album release. It was once said on a website that Perversion was originally going to be released on June 6, 1998, but at one point it was shifted back a couple of days to June 9, due to some unknown reason. Perversion has been met with mixed reviews and ratings. Allmusic gave the album 2.5/5, eMusic gave it a 4/5 and MOG gave it a 3/5. On June 27, 1998, Gravity Kills's Perversion album reach #107 on the Billboard 200 and one of the reviewers describe the album's music as "A Bullet bouncing in a can" or "More golden angst-driven hits" or "Very similar to NIN". A critic of Spin named, Joshua Westlund commented that he felt like the band was recreating NIN's song "Head Like a Hole" and said "Gravity Kills songs have no subjects because pronouns don't matter to singer Jeff Scheel; the charges against "you" in the first verse always come back as revelations about "me" in the second. Lust, disgust, and ennui sound like the same numb sensation in GK's music. Which might explain why "darkness" has seldom sounded so gray."[3]
Errors
Misprinted track name
In an online chat session on April 17, 2000, the band disclosed that the actual title of Track 10 is "Belief" and claimed that there was a misprint during the cover production process in 1998.
Alive (CD single) production error
Some copies of the Alive CD singles only contain one track. As the Record label has the listing for both tracks, it is possibly assumed that this was a production error.
Chart positions
Album
| Country | Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. | Billboard 200 | 107 |
Singles
| Country | Chart (1998) | Title | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | Mainstream Rock | Falling | 35 |
Others songs
| Country | Chart (1998) | Title | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | - | Drown | 3 |
Complication-promo appearances
Some of the songs appeared in some complication volumes and promos:
| Year | Song | Complications/promos |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Drown | Crossing All Over, Vol. 9 |
| Alive (Hurricane Mix) | Offroad Tracks Vol.16 | |
| If (Compound Remix) | TVT Warped '99 | |
| Alive | Creed on (CD Sampler) | |
| - | Falling | Virtually Alternative 92 |
Game appearances
Both "Drown" and "Alive" were featured in Test Drive: Off-Road 2. "Falling" was featured in Test Drive 5. "If" was featured in MTV Sports: Pure Ride.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Falling" | 4:02 |
| 2. | "If" | 4:06 |
| 3. | "Crashing" | 3:40 |
| 4. | "Drown" | 3:40 |
| 5. | "Alive" | 3:52 |
| 6. | "Wanted" | 4:04 |
| 7. | "Always" | 4:44 |
| 8. | "One" | 3:46 |
| 9. | "Disintegrate" | 4:40 |
| 10. | "Belief (To Rust)" | 4:16 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Poetry and Power (from the Gary Numan tribute CD)" | 3:19 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Alive (Hurricane Mix)" | 3:36 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 12. | "Enough [Mix]" |
Personnel
- Gravity Kills
- Jeff Scheel - Lead vocals
- Matt Dudenhoeffer - Guitar
- Doug Firley - Keyboard and Bass
- Kurt Kerns - Drums and Bass
- Production
- Produced by Roli Mosimann and Gravity Kills
- Engineered by Doug Firley and Federico Panero
- Mixed by Gary Townsley and East Side Sound
- Written by Gravity Kills
- Photos by Joseph Cultice
- Package Design by David Lau