PixlBit

I just got ME: Andromeda in the mail from GameFly, and am trying to think how I want to divide time bewteen it and Horizon: Zero Dawn. Not sure how Gamefly's system works, but I had Andromeda as my #1 in Q and it's been highly available for at least a month or so, and it took four or five other games being sent and returned to get here. They weren't all my #2 picks either. And in some cases, that doesn't seem to have been due to low availability of my higher picks. Odd. 

Anyway, the new Stone Sour CD dropped on Friday, and I figured I'd give it a review. If nothing else, the album pretty much proves Corey Taylor wins the "musical dversity" competition the lead singer of Nickelback so stupidly tried to start between the two bands.

Dumb Feud Rant:

I think the "feud" between the two is embarassing on both ends, honestly, but ask yourself: Do you think Chad "only-one-gurgly-voice" Kroeger can really compete with Corey "I've collaborated with Tech9Ne, an electric cello band, headed one  of the most intensely percussive unfairly-lumped-in-with-nu-metal bands from the 90s, as well as a radio-friendly-ballad-and-hard-rock-hit-prodcing one" Taylor? No. You don't think that because you're smart and realize that Nickelback should not be trying to argue it's more diverse than ANYONE, and the comparison to Stone Sour was probably the worst they could possibly have made for themselves in that category. 

Having said that, I have never understood why people love OR hate Nickelback. It's a generic rock band that sounds similar to a lot of other rock bands that got popular in the 2000s. I really don't understand how something so middle-of-the-road can warrant such an intense response on any level. I own I think their second CD, and I still think, "meh, it's decent. Couple good songs on there." I guess it's the fact they're so much more successful than some of those other bands - which a lot of people like more - that gets them the hate? That middle-of-the-road, inoffensive same-y sound probably does explain that success, so I can see that, I guess. 

The main point here is that Taylor lost me when he brought KFC into this and said "Nickelback is the KFC of music ... I mean, I'll eat it, but I won't feel good about it." The colonel should have been left out of this.

Review:

 The album starts off with an intro, "YSIF," which does its job fine. It's just a Japanese-sounding man saying "Hallo, you bastards!" and some dsitorted guitars to lead into "Tapei Person/Allah Tea," which I didn't like the first time it was released for YouTube consumption, but has grown on me. I felt the melodic chorus was too weak of a resolution for the heavy beats and barking vocals build-up. After listening to it a few times, I've become more accepting of the chorus as something that works to drive the music forward, but it's still just flat enough that it might become a skipped track later on. Not filler, mind you, but not a hit with me either. Which is too bad, becuase that buildup is pretty sweet.

 

"Kneivel Has Landed" does a great job of picking up the pace though, with a flowing vocal verse and a much more satisfying chorus to complement the verse. The pre-chorus is probably a big help here, transitioning much more smoothly between Taylor's intense screams to his radio-friendly call-and-response arena-ready smoothness later on. That and the chorus just works better than "Tapei" period, so there's that. 

The title track, "Hydrograd;" which is apparently a meaningless word resulting from a misunderstanding Corey Taylor had in Germany (I think), when he thought he saw a Subway (or maybe airport) ticker saying it was headed there and checked to see that it, in fact, did not; lives up to the "hydro" part of its moniker with some underwater effects on guitar and vocals. It's a much slower jam than anything appearing at the top of the album, but this makes its impact felt more. The lyrics "Oooh, I gotta love it on the inside/This hell is nothing new/If there's a heaven on the other side/You better pray I don't get through" are satisfyingly delivered with both melody and menace. 

Then of course, we get Song #3, which is probably the most radio-friendly thing Stone Sour has ever done this side of "Through Glass," and has thusly spent at least a couple weeks this summer at the top of the rock radio charts.

The lyrics are a bit cheesy, and it sounds like something you might hear in "inpirational" movie trailers from the 90s and 2000s, but I'd be lying if I didn't enjoy every bite of the cheese. There's even an almost-embarrasingly soccer-mom-friendly music video with the band trying on different looks in the studio to accompany it. I think they more or less know what the song sounds like, and I'm ok with that. I've seen it live and it works. 

While this probably can't be said for pop/rap fans who will be busy with 4:44 by Jay Z among others, for rock fans like me, it's the song of the summer so far.

"Fabuless" is the other kind of single Stone Sour tends to release: the one that appeals to its harder rocking core fanbase. At first, I had the same problem with the song I did with "Allah Tea," but I don't think this one is going to get skipped on future listens. Some of that is due to the fact the departure into melodic chorus doesn't last as long, and bookending said chorus with more barking screams (apparently aimed at social media celebrities? Taylor can be a bit obtuse for me at times) keeps the song from falling flat the way "Tapei Person/AllahTea" does for me. 

I'll admit seeing the multicolored inflatables on-stage about a month ago, when the band performed this song here in Dallas, might be influencing my thoughts here as well: 

"Witness Trees" takes things back into slower "Hydrograd" territory, with a consistent radio-friendly melody that soothes as well as satisfies. It's definitely a more vulnerable track than anything before it and one I could see being released as a successful single. Even Christian Martucci slows the soloiong down a bit to match, although a solo later in the song gets back to the sweeps and arpeggios drenched in wah typical of this album. 

"Rose Red Violent Blue (This Song Is Dumb And So Am I)," which from the lyrics seems to be another song about the dangers of fame, starts off with a foot-tapping rythym and some simple classic-rock like 4/4 time, then ... kinda stays there and just gets faster, sounding like a much lighter version of, say, Guns N' Roses, without the edge. That's probably the worst explanation I'll ever give for a song, but it's a fast-but-light track with crystal clear vocals and not much in the way of any kind of "punch" to lure it away from its consistent middle-of-the-road sound. It's not a track I'd skip, nor one I'd seek out. It's a decent, but not great song.

"Thank God It's Over" changes gear enough to not fall in the same trap as "Rose Red," and lyrics like "Thank God it's over/I'm gonna get what's coming to me," plus a more interesting drum beat give the song enough edge to make it sound modern, despite Martucci's heavily-classic-rock-inspired solos appearing again. 

After the departure into those consistently melodic rock tracks, "St. Marie" takes things a few step further and comes right out of left field with slide guitar, harmonized vocals and lyrics that wouldn't feel out of place on a country station. 

While I personally hated Metallica's "Low Man's Lyric," which was another example of a heavy rock/metal singer going full-on country, I think Taylor benefits from keeping his usual clean vocal style and letting the slide guitar take care of the twang part. Those harmonized vocals I mentioned definitely benefit from Taylor not trying to put on a voice just for this song, and the result is something I wish I could have sung along to when they played Dallas. It's definitely the biggest surprise of the album, and a really pleasant one. 

Then there's "Mercy."

I'm trying to decide whether I prefer the live studio video version the band released, which has clearer guitars but no overdubbing that helps create harmony in the vocals, or the final recorded version where Corey's voice is definitely more present than everything else. In any case, this is another song that fell flat for me once the chorus hit, but has grown on me upon subsequent listens. The opening guitar riff was always appealing to me though, and its featuring throughout the song is welcome, even if it does mean the song isn't deviating much at all in terms of notation. 

"Whiplash Pants" more or less marks the end of the album's squeaky-clean, bright melodic departure and sends things into full on thrash mode, with Corey's bark featuring much more prominently again and music that doesn't slow down so much as become a hook fit for a WWE entrance once the melodic vocals come into play. It's the first song on the album to come pretty close to Slipknot territory, with Corey slipping into the deep screams and the percussive beats really hitting hard toward the ending, which is Corey screaming "FUCK!" as aggressivly as he's done.

"Friday Knights" slows down again, but the music and effects are much darker than the classic-rock-like "Red Roses" and has a bit of a grunge feel to it, with creepy verses harkening back to ceratin things early Disturbed or even Alice in Chains might have done, and a smirking chorus with vocal harmonies that would have felt at home on the radio circa the mid-90s. 

If "Whiplash Pants" marked a dead end for the brighter-sounding part of the album, "Somebody Stole My Eyes" buries it, violates its grave, digs it up, puts it on a treadmill and screams at it to die faster. The chorus slows things down a bit, but not without a certain dark quality that reminds you in the harshest terms that, yes, this is still the guy from Slipknot on this generally radio-friendly recording.  

Finally,  the song "When The Fever Broke"  ends things on a ballad-y note that differs from "St. Marie" mainly in the sense that it's a more straightforward rock (re: not country) number and has a darkness similar enough to Slipknot Volume 3's closer, "Danger, Keep Away" to differentiate it from other Stone Sour ballads, but enough harmonizing and contemplative guitar work, complete with a plodding drum beat, to mark it as distinct from Taylor's darker Slipknot work as well. It's the most introspective sounding song on the album and the emotional depth and desperation is a welcome counter to the wall of noise found most everywhere else on the album. 

It's perhaps a bit of a downer after the bright-sounding and fist-pumping tracks found before it, but I'll take a Corey Taylor ballad as a closer. 

All in all, the album falls flat here and there, has some same-sounding guitar solos, and sometimes requires subsequent listenings for the songs to grow on you, but every song has grown on me, Corey Taylor is still my favorite rock singer, and the diversity of the band's appeal definitely shines through, with most of what they throw at the wall seeming to stick on at least some level. 

I'll probably be listening to it for a while, and it's definitely been blared in my car since I bought it yesterday. Despite some songs I think I might skip in the future, I haven't skipped a thing yet on three separate all-the-way-through listens and am pretty sure that trend will continue for at least another week or so. 

Efit: In fact, I'm not sure I ever will skip these songs, since every last one has only grown on me. Is definitely a solid rock album, despite some the mixed feelings I had at first. The problems I mention still exist, but are bothering me less and less.

Also, I went to the Perot Museum today and decided my Mayan name was Ihk Bahlam (Black Jaguar). I wear a lot of black and have parented two black cats, so I'm keeping my sweet, sexy animal Mayan name. I think my coworker who went with me chose Fire Snake. 

We were there from 2-6p.m., when the museum closed, and I wish we had more time for some of the interactive exhibits, but we made it through all 5 floors of the museum in that time, even if we had to skip past some of the displays and couldn't wait in line for certain things. I'm wanting to go to the Dallas Museum of Art next, which is what I was supposed to do with a friend a couple weeks back. 

Sorry to anyone who's more hyped for Jay Z's 4:44 than a rock album from a guy currently having a war of words with the guy from Nickelback. I accept that one is more relevant in modern times, but I like what I like and I don't have Tidal. 

In my defense, I also bought Kendrick Lamar's DAMN at the same Super Target I bought Hydrograd. I then scored Beyonce's Dangerously in Love and Soundgarden's Superunknown from the Best Buy bargain bin next door for $5.99 each. I thought about also getting a Johnny Cash and Earth Wind and Fire compilation, as well as Lady Gaga's The Fame, but decided I better not spend too much at once. I ended up spening exactly $40 on albums total yesterday, basically meaning $10 a CD for me. Not bad! 

Happy four-day weekend, Pixlbit! And for those working, I hope everything works for you when it's all said and done!