This is a great, hard-driving *and* grooving record, from start to finish. If you like heavy music, I don't see how you could be disappointed by this record. It sounds nothing like "And Justice For All" - that had almost no bass, and the drums were compressed to the point they sounded like tapping on boxes. That has some aesthetic purpose, for Metallica and that record - but that's not the sounds of "Cleansing". It's rich and full, with distinct beauty in sounds that should be ugly. An audiophile's heavy music, really.

So while I love Metallica, I don't see how a discerning ear of heavy music can really confuse any albums of one group for the other. Prong push a unique sound that's very full, very metal, a bit punk, and with a liberal flavoring of industrial. The combination has a groove that's great for it's own sake. And Prong's lyrics are second to none for wit and directness.

In short, I recommend it, and I'm going to go listen to this in my car right now.

I know some of these reviews are written by some jaded,moronic,idiotic persons who probably didnt even listen to the darn thing in the first place.Couldnt have.Otherwise,theyd know what I do,which is this was,is & will always be one of the best metal/industrial/rock records out there! 90% of what is considered metal these days doesnt stand a chance when you put em up against a classic such as this one.Maybe they sell better but thats just one of Gods own private mysteries Ive stopped trying to figure out. Buy this & all of Prongs cds,youll find something exciting & new on any one of `em! Besides all that,Tommy Victor is one of the coolest musicians I ever got to meet! Keep that s**t alive....

When I first popped in Power of the Damager Prong's latest I was blown the fxxk away. I had to get knee-deep in this band's catalouge quick. So I set up an account with this gracious website (amazon.com) and ordered the cleansing for dirt cheap! I am now a fan of Tommy Vic's thundering riffs and melodic catchiness. I can't live another day not contemplating adding one more Prong CD to my collection. We all already know how underrated Prong is so lets face the glorious facts of Victor touring with ministry this spring and possible future Prong releases! You know Power of the damager took off! Why not make another Prong record? My favorite cuts on this album are Cut-rate and Not of this earth currently. This album is recommended to all metal heads and rock fans alike. I can't wait to check out Rude awakening and Beg to differ after this.

I bought this CD as a gift for my husband, all he had given me was the band name and the title of the song he really thought rocked. I was able to locate which CD I needed by checking the names of songs on all the disc. Thank you for making all that information available. My husband said he could not find it anywhere, but Amazon.com came through and now instead of checking other places he's strickly Amazon.com. As for the CD, he is extremely happy and say's it kicks butt!! Thanks, Amazon from a very satisfied customer.

I have to believe Prong were heavily influenced by Nazareth, particularly the "galloping" baseline and drums on the Nazareth song "This Flight Tonight" and to a lesser degree Judas Priest around the "Point of Entry" time. But don't buy Cleansing thinking you are getting something similar to Nazareth or Judas Priest. Prong took these influences and created their own sound. I totally disagree with the Metallica analogy and I am a big Metallica fan. Cleansing is one of those discs that will just keep growing on you. This was nu metal before people were using the term. I listened to the tape for over two years straight and still listen to the disc regularly. My girlfriend at the time hated metal and totally shocked me one day when I was recommending it to a friend and she chimed in that it was very good. She was more a fan of the singer/songwriter types and Cleansing was not her style. The first few months I had the tape I constantly had to let her play one of her tapes for each time I played Cleansing but before long she loved it as much as I do. I don't normally recommend metal discs to all kinds of music fans but I do recommend Cleansing to everybody. No matter how much you might not like it when you first hear it, especially if this is outside your normal tastes, you should listen to it many times and you will be rewarded with the most wonderful synapses.