Stone Sour release their third album, 'Audio Secrecy,' today. While many might've originally dismissed the band as a vanity side project of vocalist Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root, who are both members of metal giants Slipknot, Stone Sour has carved its own niche out in the hard rock genre. The band's previous two albums have both been certified gold by the RIAA and received a lot of airplay on mainstream rock stations. 'Audio Secrecy' is therefore one of the more important rock album releases of 2010.
Taylor promised that the new album would be much darker than the first two, and it does start off that way. But after a promising start, 'Audio Secrecy' ultimately becomes a bit lackluster. It's as if Stone Sour is trying too hard to appeal to as big an audience as possible. In effect, their music starts to remind the listener of the uber-commercial, ultra-saccharine Nickelback.
Indeed, the opening title track is a quiet yet ominious instrumental that segues into "Mission Statement," which almost sounds like "Slipknot-lite." "Digital (Did You Tell)" follows the same formula, as does the first single, "Say You'll Haunt Me." As a radio single, it's as good as anything else currently being played on contemporary FM stations. The chorus, aggressive yet catchy, really gives the song a lasting impression.
However, starting with "Dying," the album really starts to veer into middle-of-the-road, "corporate rock" territory. "Dying" is the first of many ballads on the album and is utterly forgettable. "Hesitate" is even softer, and sticks out like a sore thumb because the next song, "Nylon 6/6," is by far the heaviest song on the album. It would not sound out of place on Slipknot's most recent album, 'All Hope is Gone.'
There are occasional bursts of brilliance here, such as the two-minute mark in "Let's Be Honest," where Stone Sour goes from generic ballad mode to Slipknot aggro-metal. Taylor's vocal transition from soft vocal to alpha male growl is beautiful to behold.
"Imperfect" is yet another generic ballad, and then 'Audio Secrecy' ends with "Threadbare," which brings the promised darkness back for a coda.
The album sounds fantastic, at least. Credit producer Nick Raskulinecz, who produced the band's previous album, 'Come What(ever) May,' as well as the latest albums by Rush, Alice in Chains, and Deftones.
'Audio Secrecy' is by no means a bad album. It just fails to leave a lasting impression on the listener. While it wasn't fair to expect the nine-pronged metal attack that Slipknot is famous for, I was hoping that it would be a little less poppy and less vanilla.
Comments
I like how some of the songs trace back to Slipknot, but for the most part Corey Taylor involuntarily shows that the two bands are different with much softer songs on this album. The combination of words in some of Taylor's newest songs prove my opinion of the lyrical genius that is Corey Taylor
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