Will to Death is the third stop on the John Frusciante Proliferation Tour 2004, after February's Shadows Collide with People, a bruised, seat-of-pants throwback to high-concept, tweaked pineal soul-seeking, and the side project Ataxia, a noisy and exploratory collaboration with Fugazi bassist Joe Lally. In comparison to those projects, Death is a plain dealer. Working quickly, Frusciante and trusty pal Josh Klinghoffer banged out the guitar and drum tracks, coloring them with keys, subtle electronics and rudimentary yet powerful studio twiddles (backmasking is the new Pro Tools), then adding vocal tracks streaked with his usual naked emotion.
Shadows Collide's alloy of rue and hope is still evident here, both in the arrangements and in lyrics like, "Laughter's an ugly friend of mine/ We shared the best and worst of times," which he sings over the skeletal Velvets lilt of "Unchanging". Frusciante's solo career will probably always be more about self-therapy than gaining a foothold in the marketplace. But as another impressive portion of his potent '04 output, Will to Death's immediacy and quality should quiet the critics-- particularly those who pegged his early solo records as the work of a narcotics pain-train washout.
After a satisfactory opener, Death detonates the stuttering synthesized lead riff and splashing cymbals of "An Exercise". A stylistic peer to Shadows Collide's "Carvel", the cut comes from Frusciante's Pete Yorn place, that piece of his id with a love for beard-rock and pearl-snap buttons. But soon we're into the meat of the album, with the simplistic 60s guitar/drum strum and stereo separation of "Time Runs Out" and the epic "Loss". Heavily reverbed vocals wash over starkly live-sounding drums and guitar; the song surges to a raucous movement of intertwined solos, one warm and one damaged in squelch. That's a dynamic Frusciante seems to have resigned himself to, both in life and music-- he's always on the run from the darkness, but still believes in the comforting light ahead.
There's a bit of Bill Callahan in that duality-- the longings to be forgiven for sins you were nevertheless happy to commit-- and in Will to Death's instrumentation: The wind effects and dirge piano of "Mirror" set up lyrics grappling with bad decisions, delivered through a flanging howl of mixing board effects. The broken man ruminations of "The Days Have Turned" are made stronger by the closeness of the vocal in our ear, the cold wall of hesitation between Frusciante and the quietly hopeful guitar chords. It could be a suicide note read aloud as Californication's "Scar Tissue" plays through a tinny AM in the background. There are no push-up bras here, not even the memory of hedonism: "I've stabbed life in the back," Frusciante sings. "I'm awaiting life as another man".
Still, Will to Death's purples never blotch out the better days completely. Perhaps due to the album's quick recording schedule, it's guided by a plain-faced grace, best exemplified by the comforting Cat Stevens quality of the aforementioned "Time Runs Out" and the introspective instrumental "Helical", on which tiny, watery chords ring and whisper between amp fuzz and guitar pick scratch. The album closes with its title track. With another understated jangle tickling the left ear, Frusciante reiterates his philosophy in melody in the right-- "The will to death is what keeps me alive"-- and this time the twin solos are happier than silent sunlight.
