Primus

It seems that with AntiPop, the seventh full-length from the weirdest rock band to come out of San Francisco since the Residents, Primus has decided to give commercial viability a try. Lining up a roster of name talent — most notably Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst — for support, the trio has augmented their trademark punkified psycho-funk sound with decidedly heavier edge which will make it more palatable to the Korn-fed masses. After setting new standards in weirdness with their previous Brown Album — more an artistic statement than a unit-shifter — AntiPop, in spite of its title, is destined to be their biggest seller yet. Not that that's such a bad thing. Even though this a blatant attempt to crack the mainstream in the next millennium, it's far from a sell-out. Sure the mindless moshers will have a blast with the metal-edged “Electric Uncle Sam,” “Greet the Sacred Cow” and “Laquerhead” or the stoner rock groove of “Mama Didn't Raise No Fool” but this record also contains two of the best songs the band has ever written in the form of “Dirty Drowning Man” and the multi-dimensional eight-and-a-half minute epic “Eclectic Electric,” which is destined to become their “Freebird” or “Stairway to Heaven.” This is arguably their best record since Sailing the Seas of Cheese.