Album Review: Staind's Self Titled Album

The band that hit the music scene in the mid to late nineties is back with a new album which released in 2011. I have recently picked up the newest Staind album which is self titled. Now, after 14 Shades of Grey, I started to think that Staind was at the end of the line in creating great music. Being a huge fan of Dysfunction, I really felt that Staind was giving in to the music industry and starting to become more main stream and the music started to sound the same. Well, all that has changed with their newest album.

It seems that Staind has found their roots again and have released one great rock/metal album. Putting away the same melodic songs that got them big and bringing back that heavy Staind sound which made me a fan, the self titled album pleases old Staind fans once again. Aaron Lewis provides pleasant screams with his melodic voice backing up the music that put them on the music map in the late nineties. This album seems to please both old and new fans with a great mix of hard rock and soft rock and some sounds of metal as well.

I was very pleased with this seventh album, after the last two albums seemed to be disappointing. What I really like about this album is that it seems that they really focused on the musical performance. The guitars seem a bit heavier on some songs with the addition of some great solos. The bass seems to be a heavy sound as well. And the drums seem to be the backbone adding a powerful and raw hard rock/metal sound that grabs my attention from the very first song. When I heard the single on the radio, not Again, I could not believe it was Staind. I thought it was too different from what I have recently heard in the past by them. The best way to describe this album would be; it seems like a collaboration of Dysfunction and Breaking the Cycle. If you are a fan of the older Staind music then I would advise getting this album. If you are not a fan of the older material, then I don’t think you would care for this album as much. This album has been in my car ever since I got it and I can’t seem to listen to anything else. I think that this album is my favorite Staind album, which took the place of Dysfunction, which was always my favorite album released by Staind.