My Friend Lonely

The mid to late 90s was not kind to metal as a whole, let alone thrash. If you weren't Metallica, Pantera or KoRn, you were practically nonexistent in the eyes of the masses. There's a handful of metal records from this era that I hold in a really high regard (Criteria for a Black Widow, Jugulator), and this one is included in said list of releases.

Cyclone Temple was a very short-lived band created from the remnants of Znowhite. Their previous record, I Hate Therefore I Am, was a poorly produced and ultimately aimless record that lacked punch or consistency. My Friend Lonely on the other hand is a straight improvement upon what that album was setting out to do. Featuring damn near perfect production, a whole new beast of a vocalist, and straight up good songwriting, this record is often simply labelled as an example of a band trying to fit into the times... but I just don't hear it.

Tracks like Drug of the Masses, Hate Makes Hate, Down the Drain and Killing Floor are just all around well written thrash / groove tracks. The drums hit perfectly, the guitars chug and shred at the perfect times, and Sonny DeLuca's voice is powerful and helps get the lyrics across. Of course, this album isn't perfect, with stuff like the title track having questionable inclusions. That intro is fine I guess but it really serves no purposes and doesn't fit the album as a whole. Comfortably Superficial is the weakest track here in my opinion, but it's definitely not bad, just not nearly as good as everything else here.

I've heard people complain about the short runtime before (8 tracks and 38 minutes long), but I simply don't see a problem with it. It's a thrash record after all, and those have always been on the shorter side of things. I've also heard people complain about how more than half of the tracks are from a previously released EP, Building Errors in the Machine. This would be reasonable argument if these versions of the songs weren't upgrades of those versions, but they are improvements in every way, so I don't really see the issue. This has better mixing and (in my opinion) a way better, and more fitting vocalist.

Overall, I think My Friend Lonely is a highlight of 90s thrash. My absolute favorite song on here is Drug of the Masses which is just a perfect thrash song, and my least favorite as previously stated is the uncomfortably arranged Comfortably Superficial. I give My Friend Lonely a 90%, with 9/10 stars.