Stone temple pilots - no. 4

year: 99
Grunge/hard Rock


review: That's for the best, since it's their hardest effort since their debut, Core. "Down" and "Heaven & Hot Rods" provide a powerful, brutal opening for No. 4 -- it's as if STP decided to compete directly with the new generation of alt-metal bands who prize aggression over hooks or riffs. With these two songs, the band's attack is as vicious as that of the new generation, but they retain their gift for gargantuan hooks. Much of the album hits pretty hard -- most explicitly on "No Way Out," "Sex & Violence," and "MC5," -- and even the ballads and neo-psychedelic pop have none of the swirling production that distinguished Tiny Music. That sense of adventure is missed, because even if the album finds STP returning to the muscular hard rock that made them, they always sounded better when they concentrated on melodicism. No. 4's most effective moments have a variety of sonic textures and color -- "Pruno" tempers its giant riffs with spacy verses; "Church on Tuesday" is a great pop tune, as are the trippy "Sour Girl" and "I Got You"; and the psychedelic "Glide" and closing ballad, "Atlanta," have a sense of majesty. These songs anchor the heavier moments, instead of the other way around, and it all plays well together. As a matter of fact, No. 4 is as tight as Tiny Music. Even if it isn't as grandiose or sonically compelling as that effort, it's a record that consolidates all their strengths.

3 Doors down - Away From The Sun

year 2002
Genre
Southern Rock
grunge

review: Well, what can I say. Away From the Sun doesn't have that hard & cocky attitude we loved so much after hearing Smack, So I Need You, By My Side, and it doesn't have that anger-filled & sad side we know from Loser & Duck and Run. Does this mean AFTS is a bad cd? Far from it. The instant classics will definitely be "Away from the Sun", "Here WIthout You", "Changes" and the hidden track - "This Time". I'm not really disappointed by the album, but I expected something with the same force that put "The Better Life" on the cd-shelf of every kid in the neighborhood.. Still, if you liked the original album.