staind - 14 shades of grey
any regular watchers of this site may have noticed a dig or two hidden in the odd review re nu-metal, needless to say i dont rate it too highly.
but, recently, there have been a few indicators that big rock has a new role to play in todays musical climate. what with the genre re-definition by queens of the stone age, and, the sheer simplistic but highly effective bombastic overload of audioslave have made me rethink my approach to high production modern rock. so i approached this release with open ears .. especially considering that the recent single 'price to play' has a vibrancy and melodic sharpness that made the track worthy of attention, i was hopeful
so how about 63 or so minutes of the same ?
well i think the album design/title gives a lot away - '14 shades of grey' hmmm interesting choice of words .. doesn't lift the soul and make you drool does it ? grey is not a colour that makes the day at the office doing a mundane 9-5 shift any better, doesn't provide any form of escapism - it's grey. then when you open the album the inner tray has a collage of eyeballs being stretched open.
lovely. not.
anyway - to the music.
opener is the single .. we know that and hopes remain high, the production is speakerbusting layers of chunky mtv sanctioned industrial guitars with restricted grunted chorus .. then the rest of the album sets its course. while there are melodic highs, there is a certain uniformity in the pacing, sounds and atmospheres across many of the tracks - so much so that i began to skip tracks as i couldn't tell where i was anymore.
once the pace hits a slow-n-low gloom laden modern rock groove (track 8 onwards especially) it stays there and becomes a bit to much.
admittedly though the opening 4/5 tracks are damn fine and repeated listenings have made these opening tracks particulary enjoyable, but then the sheer heaviness of the production is wearing and exhausting, and, listening to a hugely successful band complaining over and over about how sh*t life is always winds me up .. i want my rock to roll, make the blood pump faster, i want to feel inspired, not insipid.
i fully admit that i am probably not target audience, the hooded masses who rush to see matrix reloaded will love this, for those whole hormones are splintered and creating mayhem and inner turmoil i suspect that this is a perfect soundtrack for the long nights of the soul.
me ? i want more colour in my life.
and, as the band obviously admit .. this doesn't give the listener that. if you want heavy, melodic modern rock - this fills all those criteria perfectly.