Misguided is Argyle Park's only album under that name. The album was released in 1994 by R.E.X. Records into the Christian rock market, and sits alongside other early 90s work by Circle of Dust and Mortal as being instrumental in introducing industrial music to the Christian music scene. The album was nominated for Best Metal/Hard Rock Album at the 27th Annual GMA Dove Awards in 1996.[5]
Misguided is a diverse album that combines elements such as techno, metal guitar, ragtime piano, horns, samples, and dark vocals. Members cited influences such as Portishead and jazz being responsible for the experimentation on the album.[6] It also features a wide variety of guest appearances by other alternative Christian bands and mainstream industrial bands of the mid 90s. The lyrics generally center around themes of betrayal, bitterness, and emotional pain, with band members and associates at various times hinting that the album was acting as catharsis for a child abuse situation at the church they all attended while growing up.[6][7][8] The resultant thematic darkness of the album caused its reception to be mixed, with many Christian listeners protesting the lack of positive content, even going so far as to call it "anti-Christian".[6] R.E.X. themselves attempted to censor the band before the album's release, deeming the outro verse of the song "Doomsayer" as being too controversial and cutting it from the song. The band, however, inserted the cut snippet onto the end of the album master tape before R.E.X. noticed and the outro now appears as a hidden track at the very end of the CD.[citation needed] The controversy and backlash caused the band members to shut Argyle Park down two years after conception.[9]
Tommy Victor of Prong wrote the main riff for the song "Doomsayer", and later used this same riff in the Prong song "Controller".[8] Originally released on R.E.X. Records, the album was re-issued as a limited run in 2005 by Retroactive Records with bonus tracks, additional booklet information, and enhanced ROM material on the disc.[4]
Note: Following track 18, there are 3 hidden tracks and 13 silent tracks. The final hidden track, Track 34, is a spoken word piece intended as the true ending to the song "Doomsayer".
"Resurrection of the Ravens" (1992 4-Track Cassette Demo; feat. Circle of Dust & lvl)
4:17
9.
"The Conversation"
1:38
10.
"A Burden's Folly" (Instrumental Demo)
2:28
11.
"Diesel" (Instrumental Demo)
0:56
12.
"Leave Me Alone" (Instrumental Demo)
5:50
13.
"Skin Shed" (Instrumental Demo)
6:57
14.
"Doomsayer" (Instrumental Demo)
3:45
15.
"Once Great Leaders"
0:59
Total length:
55:50
2016 Remastered Re-release: Disc 3
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Refuge" (Acapella)
0:58
2.
"Fanny Pack" (Instrumental)
3:54
3.
"The Communist Masters of Deceit" (Instrumental)
5:14
4.
"Headscrew" (Instrumental)
4:57
5.
"Agony" (Instrumental)
5:15
6.
"Scarred for Life" (Instrumental)
4:17
7.
"Circle" (Redux; instrumental)
3:23
8.
"Gutterboy" (Instrumental)
4:05
9.
"Doomsayer" (No Guitar or Bass)
3:57
10.
"Agony" (Instrumental - No Guitar)
5:16
11.
"Scarred for Life" (Instrumental - No Guitar)
4:17
Total length:
45:13
Vinyl pressing
There were only four pressings of the album on vinyl (technically acetates), all of which were given to members of the band. One of these acetates was eventually purchased by a fan, who confirmed on the (now-defunct) FiXT Forums that the vinyl edition of the album contains a bonus track, named "Babylon", which is not on the CD version of Misguided. This same song ended up being included on Klay Scott's 1998 Circle of Dust album Disengage, and presumably would have been one of the songs included on Buka's Backwoods Records compilation.
3-CD deluxe edition with remastered mix and many bonus tracks (remastered b-sides, instrumentals, and early demos)
Contributors
Most of the contributors to Misguided appeared under aliases or alternate spellings of their commonly known names. Their real identities, if known, are listed here.
^"SPINonline Conference With Foetus -- Jim Thirlwell". April 26, 1995. Archived from the original on February 4, 1997. Retrieved June 28, 2023. Jim Foetus : The guy from argyle park is one of the producers of MTV Sports which I do the voiceovers for and he asked me to do it at the end of a session and just gave me the script and I said why not?
