|
| ||
Message Board |
Pictures |
Discography |
Videos |
Weekly Download |
Band Info |
Guestbook |
Links
|
| | |
|
At this point, with all the bad news surrounding the band, it's pretty easy to write Stone Temple Pilots off as a nearly was -- a band, like so many others, full of promise but lacking the fortitude to move forward. Not so fast, buddy. Somewhere in the time it took for the court system to nab Scott Weiland, the artist found time to write some songs and lay down some vocal tracks for the band's great new No.4, a blistering rock album the likes of which we haven't heard since Nirvana's Nevermind.
Produced by Brendan O'Brien, No.4 could quite possibly be the best sounding rock album of the year so far. Not in the way that landmark sonic albums like Pink Floyd's The Wall or the Eagles' Hotel California sounded, with their high studio gloss. Rather No.4 feels like you're front-row center at Madison Square Garden, blasted back to your chair by a stack of Marshalls worthy of Jimmy Page himself. It's raw and tough and unrelenting, but not in a metallic, pit bull rock sort of way, ala Korn or Limp Bizkit.
The DeLeo brothers -- Dean and Robert -- along with drummer Eric Kretz turn thundering classic hard rockers like "Down" and "MC5" into body-slamming guitar jams, while O'Brien makes sure none of the energy is lost. While Purple and Tiny Songs played around with psychedelic experimentation and imitation Beatles-isms, No. 4 starts with bold expression and grows into a massive rock-&-roll juggernaut. While there are a few mellow interludes, like the chiming "Sour Girl" and the Doors-ish "Atlanta," this is largely killer rock & roll and real justification that STP, regardless of Weiland's narcotic misadventures, is a band that deserves our hope. Bob Gulla Credit: CDNOW
|
