Out of Our Minds is the album part of Melissa Auf Der Maur’s multimedia extravaganza of the same name.  It consists of an album, a short film, comics, and more.  I’ll be reviewing the DVD portion soon, but for now this review is just the album.

This is MAdM’s 2nd solo album, her being most famous for being bassist for Hole and for a short time The Smashing Pumpkins.  While Courtney Love is releasing her latest album, Melissa has her beat this time.  I was a fan of MAdM’s first solo album, but it wasn’t the greatest thing ever.  Her live show is incredible and she’s a wonderful person offstage as well.  Continue past the break for previews of the songs and a video:

So yeah that’s actually the whole album above, all official and everything.  However I suggest you buy it.  This album is one of the best things I’ve heard in a long time.  It’s incredibly original.  It’s very heavy and well paced.  I want to call it metal, but it’s not quite.  It’s closer to Black Sabbath.  It’s both incredibly complex and incredibly simple at the same time.

The album comes complete with a ton of guests, just a few of whom are James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails and Guns N’ Roses), and the great Glen Danzig (The Misfits).  However this is Melissa’s show.  It’s clear she had a vision and it’s perfectly carried out here.

The album starts with the instrumental The Hunt, which is a perfect kick off.  It sets the dark tone getting more and more urgent as it gets towards it’s end.  Next up is the single and title track Out Of Our Minds.  This one starts with a powerful tom beat on the drums along with some primal wails from MAdM, going into an almost 50′s-esque verse.

If your listening come in.

Lyrically this is one of my favorite songs on the whole album, actually in general this is a highlight.  I feel it was a good single pick as it really reflects the rest of the album well.  If you like this song you’ll love the rest of Out Of Our Minds.

You can listen to the whole thing above so I’m not going to do a track by track breakdown, but the highlights are Meet Me On The Darkside, which is just a brilliant song; Father’s Grave, a duet with Danzig, that is unbelievably awesome; and The One.  But every single song is good.  There isn’t a weak track on the entire album.

This thing was 3 years in the making and is worth it.  If you like heavy music, but still want melody and lyrics you can actually make out then buy this immediately.  Part of the thanks contained in the album’s booklet says:

My fellow music makers and listeners, we are in this together.  Thank you for coming in, please turn it up.

I think that says it all.  Buy this and turn it up.  Make the walls shake with the awesome bass.

You can buy various packages at the MAdM Official Website.  I bought the Crescent bundle with the DVD and CD (although mine didn’t come with a comic, button, and sticker as it now says on the site for some reason, I don’t remember them being there when I ordered either).  You can also of course get the album on or buy individual track or the whole thing on mp3 through Amazon using this widget:

Or buy the hard copy below: