Grade 8 (album)
| Grade 8 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Grade 8 | ||||
| Released | February 11, 2003 | |||
| Recorded | Rumbo Recorders; Canoga Park, CA |
|||
| Genre | Nu metal, rap metal | |||
| Length | 42:54 | |||
| Label | Lava | |||
| Producer | Ross Hogarth | |||
| Grade 8 chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Singles from Grade 8 | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
  |
Grade 8 is the self-titled debut album by American nu metal/rap metal music group Grade 8. It was released on February 11, 2003 via Lava Records. The album failed to gain commercial success and resulted in Grade 8 being dropped from Lava.
Grade 8 features a pummeling rap metal style with thunderous, staccato riffing in B tuning and harshly delivered rapping. Songs contain chugging double bass as well as moody, atmospheric sections. Comparable to Machine Head's Burning Red, the album's style is largely characteristic of nu metal which had faded from mainstream popularity by 2003. Frontman Dustin Tooker explained, "It’s just an honest expression of how we feel. We wrote a record we’re huge fans of, just being music fans."
Lyrically, Grade 8 contains aggressive prose of confrontation and perseverance. This is reflected in the liner notes photography which portrays various elements of a boxing ring in a dark and gritty fashion.
A cover of Rare Earth's 1971 hit "I Just Want to Celebrate" was also featured on Grade 8 as interpreted in their heavy, metallic fashion. It includes an additional rapped verse, similar to 3rd Strike's rendition of "Paranoid" released almost a year prior.
A music video was produced for the opening track, "Brick by Brick." It was posted online in May 2003 and found minimal airplay on Fuse TV. "Celebrate," a heavy cover of the Rare Earth hit, was released to radio on June 23 as a follow-up single. However, several tracks off the album garnered circulation on Muzak's satellite radio station, Power Rock. The song "Let 'Em Know" was also featured in the video game True Crime: Streets of LA.
...
Wikipedia