| Duke Lion Fights the Terror!! | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Big Dumb Face |
| Cover: | Dukelionfightstheterror2.jpg |
| Released: | March 6, 2001 |
| Genre: | Experimental rock, comedy metal, death metal |
| Length: | 51:23 |
| Label: | Flip/Interscope/Flawless |
| Producer: | Wes Borland |
| Next Title: | Where Is Duke Lion? He's Dead... |
| Next Year: | 2017 |
Duke Lion Fights the Terror!! is the debut album by Big Dumb Face. The album is noted for its comedic lyrics and shifts in musical style, encompassing multiple genres of music.
Released on March 6, 2001, the album was recorded while Wes Borland was still a member of the nu metal band Limp Bizkit, shortly before his brief departure from that band.[1] Duke Lion Fights the Terror!! received mixed reviews, with reviewers unfavorably comparing the album's music to that of Ween, which Big Dumb Face was influenced by.
The album was recorded for Flip/Interscope Records, the labels of Wes Borland's other band, Limp Bizkit, and Flawless Records, a vanity label formed as a Geffen subsidiary by Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who served as an executive producer for Duke Lion Fights the Terror!!
The album was recorded while Borland was still a member of Limp Bizkit, prior to his brief departure from that band.[1]
The song "Organ Splitter" incorporates a sample from the 1983 Canadian comedy film Strange Brew.[1] Wes Borland performed most of the instruments and vocals on the album, with the band's co-founder Scott Borland playing keyboards, providing backup vocals and turntable scratching on the album's final track, "It's Right In Here".
The musical style of Duke Lion Fights the Terror!! was influenced by Ween and Mr. Bungle.[2] Wes Borland stated that the album's music is "really silly and idiotic and bizarre. [...] It's nothing but stupid [...] just all these retarded songs."[2]
Deseret News writer Scott Iwasaki described the album's music as "riotous meanderings that tap into early grindcore grooves and Captain Beefheart psychedelia".
Reviews of Duke Lion Fights the Terror!! were mixed. Allmusic writer Kieran McCarthy dismissed Duke Lion Fights the Terror as "a mediocre Ween rip-off", while Entertainment Weekly writer Robert Cherry wrote, "Dumb? Check. Big? Not likely. But at least Duke Lion Fights the Terror isn't only about the nookie."
A positive review appeared in the Deseret News in which writer Scott Iwasaki, giving the album three stars, stated, "Duke Lion Fights the Terror!! captures Borland, as Big Dumb Face, at his most spontaneous".[3] Bloody Good Horror writer D.M, in a mixed to favorable review, wrote, "The album’s concept is so scattershot that it’s unfathomable to call the album a cohesive whole."[1]
| Chart (2001) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 | 194 | |
| US Heatseekers (Billboard) | 16 |