Trying my hand at an album review, let’s see how this goes…
Staind.
Like many I suppose, I cringe when I hear that name. It’s certainly disappointing at the least that with every release this band, which at one time was a very strong musical influence, seems to move more and more into a world of boring, bland, pop-rock.
But they weren’t always this way. In 1996 the band self-released an album called Tormented. You won’t find this album in any stores, so look around online where you can, because it’s worth getting a copy of. This is not the whiny band today’s heavy music community knows and despises. This is ballsy, angry, metal. From the grinding guitars and opening lines of “Tolerate”, with singer Aaron Lewis proclaiming, “I don’t give a fuck about all your problems,” you know that this is not going to be a pleasant ride. The closest thing to a ballad on the album is the closer, the very dark, self-reflective, “Four Walls”. And other than an early version of their hit, “Mudshovel” none of the songs here have been re-recorded, like so many artists do with their independent releases. What we have is an album that is just full of raw, angry music, and gritty, even fierce vocals. If you haven’t heard this album, I definitely recommend you find it, it will at least show you what this band was at one time capable of being.
