Seventeen-year-old boys of the world unite. Your spokesmen for violent intentions and hatred for females are back on the scene with their fifth album. The really tragic part about this misogyny-laden album is that there are a lot of great samples ranging from ‘70s funk to calliope music to Beck, and even some good lyrics. The bottom line however is that The Amazing Jeckel Brothers by Insane Clown Posse is nothing more than “music to strangle your ex-girlfriend to.” This Detroit duo, Violent J. and Shaggy 2 Dope, did a great job of offending my eardrums for nearly 70 minutes.

The musical merits of this album (which at best have a Cypress Hill feel mixed with a West coast drive) as clouded as they are by rantings about murdering women, could be appreciated if only they weren’t further interrupted by corny choruses, and recorded skits also about killing people. Now I’m not one to admit allegiance to transmission theory. I don’t truly feel that lyrics, even ones this sick and depraved, could really influence the people who listen. But, it really doesn’t make for an enjoyable listen.

Let’s start with the bad, of which there is a lot. Most weak on the album are tracks titled, “Another Love Song,” which you can guess is anything but, another happy little ditty called “I Stab People,” a Frankenstien influenced tune that would make Mary Shelly and Mel Brooks cry, called, “Mad Professor,” and the aptly named “Bitches,” which was cut with ODB, and makes even him look bad. Least favorite printable line that sums up the entire album: “Girl I used to love you but now you gotta die” from “Assassins.” That’s not only bad, it’s stolen. It’s not all as terrible as that however. Some of the tracks have a certain amount of palatability.

If you go to great lengths to ignore their ignorance and laugh at their sophmoric wit for what it is, tracks such as “I Want My ••••,” which chronicles the life of an immortal clown who only wants a rusty axe, a lesson in voodoo, and a drink before he can die. “•••• the World” is good in that it insults everybody equally including Ted Nugent. “The Shaggy Show” adds a slight tint of creativity, brought mostly by the guest appearance of guest Snoop Dogg. He sounds rather disinterested in the “Juggalo-sound” which Insane Clown Posse boasts about. Some of the songs are good, but they all lack a professional editing and production quality that would accentuate the good and lose the bad. A prime example is the last track, “Nothing’s Left,” in which some idiot put a guitar in some other idiot’s hand and then let it go through to the final mix.

It’s not easy to crawl your way out of a niche, but for Insane Clown Posse to ever make a decent album, they must shed the whole women hating thing. It takes a sound with the potential to be funny and cutting edge and just makes it obnoxious.