Staind Self-Titled Album Review

I think I just stepped into a time machine. Back to 1999 when I first heard Mudshovel and proceeded to buy Staind's album Dysfunction. This is their best outing since then. Not that some of the stuff they have been putting out hasn't been good, but honestly most of it was too soft, or radio friendly for me. I'll never forget the first time I heard Staind on the local hit station K92. It blew me away.

Anyway, lets talk about something good, the new self titled album is awesome! It is heavy, but still has melody. The guitars are tuned super low and the distortion is good and crunchy. The bass his heavy and fat. Aaron Lewis brings back the screaming, did he even do that on the last record? Not that I listen to hard rock for screaming, but Aaron has a great singing voice and a great growl that fits perfectly with the heavier parts of songs.

I'll warn you now, there is a song named Wannabe "featuring" Snoop Dogg, I know, sounds like it doesn't belong. It is actually a really good fast track It follows a slow "Alice in Chains"-ie song, and picks up the flow of the album. I think Snoop has like 2 lines, it actually fits well in the overall flow.

It contains 9 heavy songs and a ballad at the end, much like Dysfunction from 1999. I can't really pick any top tracks, they are all so good. But I will say The Bottom is one of the heaviest, you may have already heard this one, it was featured on the Transformers 3 soundtrack.

Bottom line, buy it.

5 Stars.