Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst still has a day job. Tattoos and ball caps notwithstanding, the Interscope vice president is a lot like many other wildly successful corporate executives: Driven by resentment, he still vividly remembers every slight dealt to him in high school, and he tells embellished stories of his distant youth as if they happened yesterday. He doesn’t really crack skulls with baseball bats. He does make out with celebrities, listen to the Deftones, and love old-school hip-hop. All of which adds up to Results May Vary.

Rap metal must be dead; even on the self-described “Crazy, Crazy,” Durst knows it’s time to move on. Only three songs are “Break Stuff”-style ragers, and not one comes close to the band’s previous big singles. Vulnerable as any emo kid, Durst spends most of the hastily assembled disc singing himself down from the edge. Now featuring ex-Snot guitarist Mike Smith, the band riffs hard, but it’s moving away from bounce and grind, reaching instead for ocean-sized moments. Eight chill-out tunes float in pregnant distortion, acoustic flourishes, and echoing beats. The band’s full-metal trip-hop is promising, but the result is a transitional album that will leave both casual and hardcore fans nostalgic for the “Nookie.”

This article appears in Oct 1-7, 2003.