Perversion (album)

"Perversion" is a 1998 album by Industrial Rock act Gravity Kills. During an online chat session on April 17, 2000, the band disclosed that the title of the album was originally going to be "Whore", but their record label TVT Records thought it was not a good idea. Two days before manufacturing the CDs, the band decided on the name 'Perversion' instead.

Perversion
Studio album by Gravity Kills
Released	June 9, 1998 September 6, 1998
Recorded	Mr. Blood, Upper Room Studios, St. Louis
Genre	Industrial rock Industrial metal Electronic rock Alternative rock
Length	40:45 (U.S.) 40:50 (UK)
Label	TVT (U.S.) Dragnet Records (Germany)
Producer	Roli Mosimann, Gravity Kills
Gravity Kills chronology
Manipulated (1997) Perversion (1998) Superstarved (2002)
Singles from Perversion
"Alive" Released: 1998 "Falling" Released: 1998

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
eMusic	[2]

The US packaging for meat image was used in album's artwork.

On the front cover of the album, there is writing that says "Safe Handling Instructions" and information, protection and instructions on how to keep clean and alive written underneath. Possibly the songs and graphic designs references the signs of meat or poultry, viruses or bacteria and illness or diseases. Inside the case (where there are two pictures split up in half), on the left is a picture of Jeff Scheel tied to a chair and rapidly moving his head back and forth. On the right, there is the band members Doug Firley, Matt Dudenhoeffer and Kurt Kerns near the right corner listening to something with headphones. There are pigs in both pictures.

Release and Reception

Before Perversion was released, a promotional CD was released under the name 'Perversion' in 1998, which contained all of the album's songs and had "Drown" titled as "Drowned" (or sometimes as "Drowning"), this song was renamed before official album release. It was once said on a website that Perversion was originally going to be released on June 6, 1998, but at one point it was shifted back a couple of days to June 9, due to some unknown reason. Perversion has been met with mixed reviews and ratings. Allmusic gave the album 2.5/5, eMusic gave it a 4/5 and MOG gave it a 3/5. On June 27, 1998, Gravity Kills's Perversion album reach #107 on the Billboard 200 and one of the reviewers describe the album's music as "A Bullet bouncing in a can" or "More golden angst-driven hits" or "Very similar to NIN". A critic of Spin named, Joshua Westlund commented that he felt like the band was recreating NIN's song "Head Like a Hole" and said "Gravity Kills songs have no subjects because pronouns don't matter to singer Jeff Scheel; the charges against "you" in the first verse always come back as revelations about "me" in the second. Lust, disgust, and ennui sound like the same numb sensation in GK's music. Which might explain why "darkness" has seldom sounded so gray."[3]

Errors

Misprinted track name

In an online chat session on April 17, 2000, the band disclosed that the actual title of Track 10 is "Belief" and claimed that there was a misprint during the cover production process in 1998.

Alive (CD single) production error

Some copies of the Alive CD singles only contain one track. As the Record label has the listing for both tracks, it is possibly assumed that this was a production error.

Chart positions

Album

Country	Chart (1998)	Peak position
U.S.	Billboard 200	107

Singles

Country	Chart (1998)	Title	Peak position
U.S.	Mainstream Rock	Falling	35

Complication-promo appearances

Some of the songs appeared in some complication volumes and promos:

Year	Song	Complications/promos
1999	Drown	Crossing All Over, Vol. 9
	Alive (Hurricane Mix)	Offroad Tracks Vol.16
	If (Compound Remix)	TVT Warped '99
	Alive	Creed on (CD Sampler)
-	Falling	Virtually Alternative 92

Game appearances

Both "Drown" and "Alive" were featured in Test Drive: Off-Road 2. "Falling" was featured in Test Drive 5. "If" was featured in MTV Sports: Pure Ride.

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Falling"	4:02
2.	"If"	4:06
3.	"Crashing"	3:40
4.	"Drown"	3:40
5.	"Alive"	3:52
6.	"Wanted"	4:04
7.	"Always"	4:44
8.	"One"	3:46
9.	"Disintegrate"	4:40
10.	"Belief (To Rust)"	4:16

Japanese Bonus track

No.	Title	Length
11.	"Poetry and Power (from the Gary Numan tribute CD)"	3:19

Unidentified bonus track

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Alive (Hurricane Mix)"	3:36

Various – industrial bonus track

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Enough [Mix]"

Personnel

Gravity Kills

• Jeff Scheel - Lead vocals
• Matt Dudenhoeffer - Guitar
• Doug Firley - Keyboard and Bass
• Kurt Kerns - Drums and Bass

Production

• Produced by Roli Mosimann and Gravity Kills
• Engineered by Doug Firley and Federico Panero
• Mixed by Gary Townsley and East Side Sound
• Written by Gravity Kills
• Photos by Joseph Cultice
• Package Design by David Lau

References

1. "Perversion - Gravity Kills". Allmusic.
2. "Perversion by Gravity Kills". eMusic.
3. Spin magazine October 1998 Reviews - Gravity Kills - Perversion. Spin.