Rollins Band: Henry Rollins (vocals); Chris Haskett (guitar); Melvin Gibbs (bass); Sim Cain (drums).
Recorded at Echo Creek Ranch, Myers, California.
All songs written by Rollins Band.
"Liar" was nominated for a 1995 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.
From his days as a frontman with Black Flag, Henry Rollins was one of the godfathers of the thrash aesthetic. Author, poet, comedian, philosopher, Henry Rollins is determined to turn his glaring searchlight of insight and intelligence on all the discrepancies, frailties, deceits and absurdities he observes in the world, saving some of his most telling blows for the tattooed, muscular guy with the mic.
But then, Henry Rollins is man enough to bear the WEIGHT, and this is an artful, angry, energetic tour de farce by a powerful charismatic figure who translates all of those familiar themes of the outcast and the mutant into tomes of transcendence and acceptance and maturation...and rage. And in guitarist Chris Haskett, drummer Sim Cain and new bassist Melvin Gibbs, the Rollins Band come loaded for bear, not really a thrash band or a heavy metal outfit, but a powerhouse funk-rock outfit with the chops to spread their wings and fly (although they do a pretty fair imitation of speed metal on "Icon").
What the critics say...
Melody Maker (4/9/94, p.29) - "...A 20-minute chat with Rollins throws up enough ideas, opinions, rants and arguments to fill 10 cover stories. Now it seems, he's finally made an album that's gonna provoke just as much debate..."
Musician (5/94, p.67) - "...Henry Rollins is such a prolific producer of quality dissatisfaction, whether in the form of music, literature, or spoken-word performance, that it's easy to lose track of the distinct merits of each. WEIGHT, his band's whomping sophomore effort as a major-label act, offers a slag-heap of brainy rants that deserve some heavy listening....a master of ugly thoughts for ugly times..."
NME (Magazine) (4/9/94, p.41) - 8 (out of 10) - "...WEIGHT is the mostly brilliant, sometimes dark, but often very funny work of a band at their peak..."