Stone Sour - Hydrograd

I’d rather not get into the “controversy” preceding this album’s release since it just involves Nickelback’s singer (who apparently still attests that his band’s music is very diverse) and lazy mudslinging from him and Corey Taylor, who’s status as a controversial figure in metal seems to stem solely from the fact that he’s highly published (an articulate, significant metal icon willing to expand on his opinions on various topics? Why wouldn’t any journalists want to keep a microphone around him?), which I think is just a silly thing to be complaining about. So, for Corey’s band’s first album without writer and guitarist Jim Root, I was worried it would take a nosedive after the ambitious feat The House of Gold and Bones accomplished, but it ultimately came out better than I expected. “Fabuless” was a great choice for the lead single for the album for that aggressive and sticky chorus it has, and “Song 3” is also a decent sing-along-y tune fitting for a Stone Sour single. The album didn’t really wow me at any point nearly as much as “Fabuless” did, and it seems to just check off all the boxes for Stone Sour song types, with some not being as creatively inspired as Corey’s insistence of his passion for integrity in interviews might lead one to believe. “St. Marie” was particularly formulaic and similar to some of the types of cheesy pop that Corey has critiqued previously. “Taipei Person / Allah Tea” (a corny pun for “type A personality”) serves as one of the harder tracks on the album, but it never really feels like the band kick into full gear on it, or anywhere else on the album, with “Whiplash Pants” and “Somebody Stole My Eyes” being the only other times the band really dial the intensity a little past the medium notch. The spooky moodiness on “Witness Trees” works in the album’s favor, even if it does feel a bit out of place, because the rest of the album is largely forgettable and reminiscent of some of the less overtly poppy moments on Audio Secrecy. I’ve never really expected to be blown away by a Stone Sour album, and even as cohesive and conceptual as the previous double release was, it still succumbed to many of the pitfalls that befall every Stone Sour album, this one included. At best, this album showed that the band isn’t going to tank as a result of Jim’s departure, but aside from that, it’s just another unambitious Stone Sour album. I don’t hate it, although I do really not like some parts of it, but I highly doubt that I’ll be returning to it much as a whole.

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