Friday 4 April 2014

Choice Cuts : Prong - Prove You Wrong (Epic)



Album line-up : 

Tommy Victor | Lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitars
Troy Gregory | Bass guitar, backing vocals
Ted Parsons | Drums, percussion, backing vocals
With Mark Dodson - additional vocals

Review :
Tommy Victor is a master of all he surveys. Throughout his 25+ year career, in good times and bad, he has played guitar, mixed, produced, worked with other musicians (Danzig, Ministry, Rob Zombie) and toured and recorded with his mainstay Prong. Album number three, ‘Prove You Wrong’, is a standout amongst the many great records that Prong has created. My top five would be rounded out by ‘Beg to Differ’ (#2), ‘Cleansing’ (#3), ‘Carved Into Stone’ (#4) and ‘Power of the Damager’ (#5).
Dropped at a time when the music world was about to be dominated by the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, ‘Prove You Wrong’ was 13 tracks of raucous, post-thrash, punk-tinged heaviness that stood tall amongst its grungy counterparts. The massive Tommy Victor riffage, the loose dirty bass of Troy Gregory and the echoing cannon-like drum work of Ted Parsons had the band firing on all cylinders. They were a force to be reckoned with.    
While Prong’s most commercially successful release wouldn’t come until their next album, 1994’s ‘Cleansing’, which hit number 126 on the Billboard 200, fueled by the song “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck,” ‘Prove You Wrong’ was the perfect stepping stone on the bands uphill climb towards the heavy metal spotlight it was so deserving of. No other band of the like at the time had the dirty sound that Prong was producing. Tommy’s vocals were unique in a time when most grunge singers were moaning away.  
Every song on ‘Prove You Wrong’ is great. Most of the time, an album has a song or two that makes you go, “What were they thinking?” Such is not the case here. From the opening bass plucks and snare drum of “Irrelevant Thoughts,” to the churning rhythmic riff of “No Way To Deny It,” ‘Prove You Wrong’ destroys in every way possible. My favorite tracks include “Brainwave,” “Unconditional,” “Hell If I Could,” “Torn Between” and “Prove You Wrong.”
‘Prove You Wrong’ was one of the dominant heavy albums of my middle twenties. It sounded great spinning on my turntable, or through my headphones, and most importantly, it made my car rumble and vibrate like never before. Windows down, stereo cranked up, and “Unconditional” blaring away. To me, it has stood the test of time, and it sounds just as great if not better today than it did 23 years ago.

Words & Recommendation by : Ken Kopija


Album Details

Prove You Wrong is the third album by the metal band Prong. It is their only album with Troy Gregory on bass guitar. Released: April 2, 1991

Track list :
  1. Irrelevant Thoughts 02:37
  2. Unconditional 04:45
  3. Positively Blind 02:43
  4. Prove You Wrong 03:31
  5. Hell If I Could 04:00
  6. Pointless 03:07
  7. Contradictions 04:10
  8. Torn Between 03:11
  9. Brainwave 03:01
  10. Territorial Rites 03:31
  11. (Get A) Grip (On Yourself) 03:05
  12. Shouldn't Have Bothered 02:39
  13. No Way to Deny It 04:41

Music videos were made for Prove You Wrong and Unconditional.

Reissued by Steamhammer on October 28th 2008 remastered in a digipak.

For more information :