Filter shakes its industrial edge and finds sonic lushness

The connections were obvious. Before forming Filter, founder Richard Patrick had played guitar in NIN. And Short Bus, Filter's '95 debut, was in the same industrial-rock school, with the same old pockets of rage and blistering sound.

However, its mighty single, "Hey Man, Nice Shot," helped rescue the record from obscurity. (The single's accompanying controversy - whether the song was written about the high-profile suicide of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain - didn't hurt a bit.)

But then Filter disappeared for a couple of years. Nine Inch Nails lost its cachet and industrial rock seemed to be history.

Luckily, Mr. Patrick had already changed his tune - literally. Title of Record, which came out in 1999, retained some of the old industrial crunch, but was a far more melodic and enchanting work. An "album" in the classic sense - one with a logical procession from beginning to end - it nonetheless contained a collection of beautifully crafted songs, including the almost folkie "Miss Blue" and the atmospheric "It's Gonna Kill Me."

That last song, as well as the song "Skinny," was a collaboration between Mr. Patrick and guitarist Gino Lenardo. Mr. Patrick has a reputation for being difficult to work with, which makes Mr. Lenardo's palpable congeniality a real asset.

Mr. Lenardo was alternating between engineering at a Chicago studio and playing guitar with industrial band Chemlab when he was asked to audition for a guitarist gig.

"Someone brought me his tape way back in early '96, late '95," he says. " 'There's this guy who needs a live guitarist.' They didn't even tell me who it was."

Mr. Lenardo liked the tape, an early version of Short Bus, and signed on to do the tour. After it was over, Mr. Patrick parted ways with programmer and collaborator Brian Liesegang, and Mr. Lenardo's role slowly evolved. They built a studio and began to work on a new CD.

"I do a lot, it's great," Mr. Lenardo says, while still retaining his modesty. "I'm very hands-on, I get involved. I do all the setup for live shows, with samples and [prerecorded segments]."

The thick, beautiful aural quality of Title of Record makes it clear that much time and dedication was invested.

"We spent so many hours," Mr. Lenardo says. "A big difference between this record and the last one is the density. There's a lot more to listen to [on Title of Record]. It offers a lot more after repeated listens. It's an album, not a couple singles and then some turds. That's what I wanted. I'm so tired of the routine: 'I like the first track' and then the rest of it's [expletive] that leaves you skipping around with your CD player."

His favorite song is the one to which he contributed the most: "Skinny."

"It encapsulates the microcosm of the whole album," he says. "The reason being, it has the whole dynamic and all the texture. There's this simple little melody and it builds. There's a little loop that comes in, and then real drums. And it has these themes that are stated.It drifts into verse, then builds into this crushing distorted guitar, with a slow, grinding chorus.

"It takes you through this whole process, with hills and valleys." In live performances, the band does not try to re-create the album note for note.

"We try to re-create the emotional intensity but not the exact tones," he says. "We have a hard disk that will re-create certain loops, but the goal is to get the power and emotion and dynamic. The songs mutate and become something different, and even better in some cases. Everybody was concerned: 'How are you gonna re-create huge guitar sounds? 'Welcome To The Fold' - how you gonna do that?' Well, we just split the signals so that it sounds like three people are playing. It's not that difficult."

One of the biggest adjustments for the band has been dealing with the huge success of the single "Take a Picture." The song, a beautiful ballad with acoustic guitar, is unlike anything Filter did previously. The song has been played on numerous radio station formats, from metal to pop, and its video has been a massive hit on MTV.

"It was a huge crossover, and that's good and bad," Mr. Lenardo says. "That song has done great things for us. It has opened us up to a much larger audience. But are these people going to go out and buy the record? I can hear it now: 'I wasn't [expecting] this!' from 40-year-old housewives [responding to] a song that starts off with cellos, soundsbeautiful, and then goes kakow,and their whole brain explodes. I'm afraid we're giving people shellshock. They'll be returning their stereo systems to Best Buy.

"But what can you do?" he asks, philosophically. "That's what songs are for."