311
Music (1993)
Genre: Alternative Rock/Metal, Rap Metal, Reggae Rock, Funk Rock/Metal
This album is just incredible, one of the first rap metal albums ever coming out a year after Rage Against the Machine's debut production. Now, these guys have a very established style already on this production, SA and Nick know how to play off each other, with their rapping and singing, doing it incredibly well. Tim Mohoney the guitar player, P-Nut the bass player and Chad Sexton on drums, all have very and distinctive styles and they are all colossal musicians.
This album is heavy and it's pretty solid from front to back and most of its tracks are 311 classics in their live sets, some of the riffs on this album are just super kick ass, I love to warm up to these songs on my bass. The only bad thing about this production is its mix, it does sound a little dated, it has a late 80's sound that doesn't serve this band to well, but they do get across their tremendous positive vibe. So go out and get your hands on this fantastic production.
Overall: 59.8
311
Grassroots
Genre: Alternative Rock/Metal, Rap Metal, Reggae Rock, Funk Rock/Metal
After buying 311's Blue album when I was a teen almost 20 years ago, I just wanted more from these guys and I actually bought Grassroots from a mail order catalog at my local record store and it took about 2 months for it to arrive at my house and my wait was worth it.
The band just takes everything to the next level on this album, it has the best instrumentation and Riffs in their catalog and it has some impressive instrumental arrangements. And I must note Tim's really gets to shine with his guitar work on this album letting his inner Santana show. P-Nut pulls off some cool bass tricks and Chad's drums are impeccable. And I must add the sound and mix on this production is much better compared to their first production.
Overall: 63.1
311
311 (Blue Album; 1995)
Genre: Alternative Metal, Rap Metal, Alternative Pop/Rock, Funk Rock, Reggae
I love this album, it’s the first one I ever went and bought for myself. I was 14 years old when I saw the Down video on an MTV program, Top Ten USA, and I flipped out, they seemed cool. I must add that I also saw Bulls on Parade from Rage Against the Machine in the same show they also blew my mind. The next day I grabbed my savings and my bike, and I went pedaling to the local mall that was pretty far away from my house. To my surprise, they had the 311 album in stock, but I had to wait for Rage’s Evil Empire for about a month. From that day on, I had my official musical birth; these two albums set me on the path to becoming a Bass player.
Vocals and Lyrics: Nick and SA establish their particular vocal style. The bad thing is that they also laid the groundwork for tons of copycats from bands in hip hop, rap metal, nu metal and even reggaeton. What they invented that everyone else copied, is rapping in the verse and singing on the chorus. The thing is that they do it better than anybody else because they add that cool dancehall vibe to their vocals. 12
Instrumentation:
Guitar: Tim establishes his particular Riff style and the way he plays solos, defining 311’s sound. No one sounds like these guys and a big part of this is thanks to Tim.
Bass: P-Nut’s playing is more grounded; he concentrates more amplifying Chad’s grooves.
Drums: Chad’s drumming is stunning; the thing is how this guy plays with so much groove and swing, he plays complex stuff in really relaxing way.7
Melody and Structure: Unlike many other Rap Metal bands, 311 can easily go from very structured riff song, to very laid back reggae inspired song that depends more on melody, the common denominator to each song is Chad’s groove that keeps your toe tapping the whole time. 9
Sound, Production and Feeling: This album is where they definitely establish their particular sound. Feeling wise they got your head bobbing up and down from the moment it starts till it finishes. 10
Song: They are all 311 classics, no fillers. You know I love this album so much that I’ve learned how to play every song on bass and on guitar.14
The Bad: Nothing
Originality: This album is where they consolidate their style of songwriting, they establish the blueprints of what is to come. Also, they are finally able to fuse genres seamlessly; it’s not a cut and paste of musical styles that plague many alternatives of the 90’s. 10
Overall:62
Transistor
Overall: 57
311
311
Overall: 60
Nick Hexum Quintet
Overall: 53.3
311
Transistor
Genre: Alternative Rock, Soft Rock, Reggae Rock, Funk Rock
Now here we have an album that has focus issues, they try a ton of new styles and directions but never really digging very deep, songs are good but you get a feeling that they could have been better if they concentrated on a shorter tracklist, they seem to have spread themselves too thin. But I do enjoy this albums production, lots of use of samples, keys and spacey synths giving it a space rock feel and Beautiful Disaster with its dual guitar intro is monumental.
Overall: 57
311
Soundsystem
Genre: Alternative Rock/Metal, Soft Rock, Reggae Rock, Funk Rock
Very similar to Transistor but more focused and with much more solid material with tracks like Flowing that has one of 311's best sing-along choruses ever, Come Original that even though it's corny as hell P-Nut funk slap just kills it and the Leaving Babylon a Bad Brian cover that introduced me to the Reggae and hardcore punk legends.
The songs on this album are more organic and not as riff driven, P-Nut has some really interesting bass lines in this album, Tim is more mellow on this album letting his inner Santana out for a stroll On Life not a Race, Chad's Livin and Rocking drumming is insane. I've learned to appreciate the album over the years and I recommend getting it.
Overall: 58.5 311
From the Chaos (2001)
Genre: Alternative Rock/Metal, Rap Metal, Reggae Rock, Funk Rock/Metal
Even though the band does not break new ground on this album, they just really bring it, the material in general is some of the best in 311 catalogues, the album rocks from front to back, and the band works in full service to the songs. It brings their positive energy metal to full throttle, it also brings back much needed heaviness to their sound on most of the album and also landing two exquisite ballads like Amber and Champaign, that show off the band's maturity.
Overall: 60
311
Evolver (2003) Don't Tread on me (2005) Uplifter (2009) Universal Pulse (2011)
Genre: Alternative Rock/Metal, Rap Metal, Reggae Rock, Funk Rock/Metal
They play it really safe on these albums each of them has a couple of great tracks but the rest of these productions are pretty redundant in the band's catalog, they play it really safe not really trying anything new, being a tad uninspired. What you can do with these albums is pick two or three tracks off each album and just make one killer playlist.
Nick Hexum Quintet
My Shadow Pages (2013)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Soft Rock, Reggae Rock, Funk Rock
Here we have a relax and laid back Nick stretching his legs bit dabbling with a couple of ideas outside of 311's normal bag of tricks, but he never strays too far from the mellower stuff from his main band, well played soft rock with a funky ting and a loungy feel, this album is pretty enjoyable.
Overall: 53.3
311
Stereolithic (2014)
Genre: Alternative Metal, Rap Metal, Alternative Pop/Rock, Reggae
311 is one of my all time favorite bands out there. I was starting to lose my faith in them, their last few albums were duds. I’m happy to say that this album breaks that bad streak, so with no more further formalities here we go with my humble review of this celebration of good vibes that is Stereolithic.
Vocals and Lyrics: Nick Hexum and SA Martinez have their vocals duties down to a science; they don’t try anything new, but if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. Lyrically they do a much better job; actually, it was somewhat of a surprise the maturity of what there were singing about in a few of their songs. 8
Instrumentation:
Guitar: Tim does an impeccable job on this album; he’s pretty discreet with his solos but puts a lot of effort in adding nice details and arrangements to each song. 7.5
Bass: P-Nut is back, he was sort of lost on the last few albums; he has some really good bass lines in this production and uses some kick butt effects that take some of the songs to another sonic level. And I must add that he brings back the slap funk bass that I just love and missed.
Drums: Chad’s drumming has got its super groove back, he sounded little uninspired lately.
DJ: SA turntables are back and make the difference giving that Sound System/Transistor feeling to this album. 7.1
Melody and Structure: There is great effort in making memorable songs, some of them are pretty catchy, and it’s been awhile that 311 haven’t been able to this. 8
Sound, Production and Feeling: Man the groove and feeling, on these songs are something missing from their last few albums. Positive vibes flow from the speakers, like most of 311 albums, it’s a feel good experience, but in this production they really nail it in this department. The production is great, there a ton is nice and well-placed FX tricks. The sound is also perfected but the best part is the selection of guitar and bass effects, many of them 311 classics that they haven’t used in awhile and some new pedals are thrown into the mix just for fun. 10
Songs: Every song is a classic, in this case, Tranquility is my favorite because every time I put it on my Daughter starts singing along. It brings joy to a musician father that his 7 year old daughter likes this more than Justin Bieber. 15
The Bad: Nothing
Originality: They sound like they’re hungry again, like they fell back in love with music. 10
Overall: 57.60
Mosaic (2017)
Genre: Alternative Rock/Metal, Rap Rock/Metal, Rock Steady
After being let down by many of my favorite veteran bands like with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Incubus, Korn and even Mastodon with their latest albums. I was pleasantly surprised with this fantastic album from 311. The band sounds totally reinvigorated, inspired and back on their game. All the guys do an incredible job, but I must say that Chad Sexton's drumming just blew me away, he gets into super heavy mode without killing the groove or feeling a couple of times on the album, just showing that these guys can still rock. The guitar bass work is superb Tim , Nick and Peanut sound that they took their time to really adorn well the songs. Another thing that I liked about this album is the production of John Feldman (Gold Finger) that really gels well with 311 style, adding some interesting electronic stuff and updating typical old school reggae production effects, but not forgetting to mix the band super well they sound great. They mix things up in the song composition working a lot in crafting some quality songs, penning a couple of instant classics, the track list is freaking impressive. So I recommend to go out and get the beautiful masterpiece best thing the band has pumped out since From the Chaos.
Overall: 60.5
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