Come What(ever) May

by

Stone Sour

Edit

The best part about Slipknot taking another hiatus is that we can finally expect a new Stone Sour album. Stone Sour, a side project of `Knot singer Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root, made a great debut in 2002, but the band was put on hold due to the success of Slipknot's 2004 album, "Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses)." Now they've returned, four years later, with their long awaited, much anticipated sophomore effort, "Come What(ever) May." They have a lot to prove with this album, since many thought their first disc was a one-trick pony which mooched off of Slipknot's success.

This disc has many aggressive, heavy parts, but they're blended with the same ingredient that made the debut a success: good vocals. On every one of these songs, Corey actually sings cleanly, and he delivers a truly heartfelt--at times amazing (see "Through Glass")--vocal performance.

Overall, however, this album is not a very big step forward. The musicianship is improved because the guitarists (Josh Rand and the aforementioned Jim Root) adopt a few solos (i.e. "Your God" has a cool, melodic solo). But the songwriting is largely the same, and one or two of these songs will even make you think it's a leftover from the 2002 recording sessions. That's OK, though, because Stone Sour didn't really have much room to improve, anyways. And don't be mistaken--"Come What(ever) May" is almost every bit as good as the debut, and it even eclipses that album in a couple of places, so it's not a misstep or a sophomore slump by any means.

Songs like "30/30-150" and "Reborn" are very fast, heavy, and catchy with churning, almost thrashy riffs and infectious, melodic choruses. "Hell & Consequences" and "1st Person" are also among the record's heaviest songs. The title track features increasingly violent vocals and angry, political lyrics. "Sillyworld" is partially heavy, but most of it very melodic, with light, eloquent guitar strums and great vocals which almost border on sounding sweet. "Socio" and "Cardiff" are both dreary, gentle, mid-tempo numbers which bring the mood down a little, but the album's pinnacle is the excellent closer, "Zzyzx Rd." It's a very depressing ballad, but it's not a "Bother" rip-off, because it also includes a piano and almost mindblowing singing.

"Come What(ever) May" is another batch of good, melody streaked, hook infected, hard rockin' tunes. Quite frankly, it's very refreshing to hear an album like this nowadays. It's not metalcore, it's not nu-metal--it's nothing but good, melodic hard rock. The bottom line? If you liked Stone Sour before, you'll find it almost impossible to dislike this album.

This album would be easier to enjoy if I could listen to it with my son in the room. Overall, I enjoyed the music on this album, unlike many people I knew that bought it solely for 'through glass' and hated the rest of the CD.

The only major flaw of this album that stopped me from rating more highly was the explicit lyrics. After 6 years in the Navy it takes mroe than bad language to offend me, but this album over used it. Probably someone in the band felt that it made them 'hard' or 'edgy' but overall it just felt like they dumped in profanity when they couldn't come up with a creative lyric. By the time it got to the end the profanity was tedious. I really enjoy listening to this, but it frustrates me that I can only listen to it when I am alone in the house or car. Hopefully their next effort will be a little more generally playable.