Choke - "Whatever Happened to Mark Twain's America?", 1999

The sophomore album by Choke, "Whatever Happened to Mark Twain's America?", is the natural continuation of the self-titled debut album, but it seems to shed the more obvious Acid Bath references - at least most of the time - to focus on a slightly more personal style. It's pretty much an improved version of what could be heard on "Choke", but the band seems to have perfected its blend of groove and alternative/nu-metal here, with the southern/sludge elements confined to just a couple of tracks. On the other hand, Korn and Deftones influences abound, with singer Tracy McGinnins often sounding very similar to Jonathan Davis; the first two tracks, "Porkwurm" and "Slugworth", are an obvious example of that, grooving away between dissonant guitars, crushing power chords, chugging riffs, and melodic refrains that could have catered ideally to the alternative rock radio generation of the time. 

In general, for most of its length, the record is very accessible, and it sounds extremely 90s, especially when it blends lighter post-grunge sections with heavier riffs, for instance on "32 Leaves". The southern metal attitude gets partially revived on the bluesy jam "...As a Matter o' Fact", as well as on the Black Sabbath-ish stomp of "Giving Up the Ghost" and - partially - on "Handjive", the latter featuring a riff in the middle that sounds eerily similar to "Tranquilized" by Acid Bath; maybe it's not a coincidence that Sammy Duet himself lends his backing screams to it. 

The original CD release features an Acid Bath-inspired intro too that resembles a mix of "Dr. Seuss is Dead" and "Old Skin", displaying a distorted spoken word over a sludgy riff doused in electronic effects. Additionally, there are intermezzos between almost every song, consisting of noise/electronics and movie samples, as well as a ghost track at the end of the tracklist. All these fillers really disrupt the flow of the album, and they've been wisely removed from its current abridged version that can be found on the streaming channels. It's uncertain what the original idea was; it might have had something to do with the record being a concept album of sorts exploring the deterioration of American values, with the intermezzos serving as a fil rouge between every chapter of this story. They're quite intrusive, though, and the album definitely works better without them. Another odd detail is that the song "Handjive" at some point stops abruptly, but that must have been an artistic choice, albeit questionable.

Overall, the songs are better when compared to the debut album, and the production has also improved, especially when it comes to the clean vocals, sounding way more refined and fuller than on "Choke". "Whatever Happened to Mark Twain's America?" is far from being a perfect record, though, and whoever is looking for a proper sludge metal album should probably look elsewhere. This said, it retains a certain charm, especially if you're nostalgic for the heavier 90s alternative metal and you ran out of bands to listen to; chances are you might have missed Choke and this album entirely.