Hurt Process

Drive By Monologue

BY Sam SutherlandPublished May 1, 2004

While lyrics dealing with the infliction of violent suffering on former loved ones who spurned you is nothing new in emo (Saves The Day, Boys Night Out, et al), the Hurt Process have elevated this passively misogynistic practice to new heights with Drive By Monologue. While the actual lyrical content is nothing to bark at, the photography contained within the album’s liner notes raise some concern: a young woman in a skirt lying dead on the ground, covered in blood. The shots are slightly distorted and blurred through computer manipulation, but one can clearly make out her slit wrists, the blood covering her shirt, and the blood on her thighs in the close-up crotch shot. All this might be a little more excusable were the music anything more than uninspired and unoriginal emo-core, devoid of any real passion or songwriting ability. Yet the combination of such dark imagery with lyrics such as "Leaving slowly / Like the snow / Like the snow with lies you told” creates an uneasy feeling in the listener; while it is the clear the band is not outwardly sexist in any true fashion, perhaps the subconscious misogyny which permeates their boring nu-metal-tinged emo should be of even greater concern.
(Victory)

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