Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 08/01/2006
What sets
Stone Sour apart from others of their breed is the band's ability to create smooth, radio-friendly
alternative metal songs while simultaneously not boring the people who have heard way too much from
post-grunge groups. The secret to this lies in guitarist
James Root's unique style and drummer
Roy Mayorga's unyielding intensity.
Root and singer
Corey Taylor re-created
Stone Sour after the success of
Slipknot in the late '90s; the band was meant to serve as a more introspective, melodic, and creative outlet for them, while not disenfranchising the fans of
Slipknot.
Stone Sour are more fierce than most
alternative metal groups, incorporating brash
heavy metal into many of their songs. The band's aggressive self-titled debut was far more reminiscent of
Slipknot, but
Come What(ever) May is moving further and further away from the shock
rock,
rap-rock aspect that originally brought
Slipknot into the mainstream.
Taylor lets loose his nearly
metal growl (which is nearly untouchable compared to most of his contemporaries) on occasion, but maybe not as often as he should. The album's better moments are felt when his relentless, vicious pipes -- coupled with distortion-heavy riffs and double bass drum -- forge their way through the immaculately produced sound.
Come What(ever) May starts out strong with the bass drum-heavy
"30/30-150." The song explodes out of the speakers; it's a solid
metal start for an album that dips between
alternative rock,
heavy metal, and
post-grunge. Unfortunately, the album isn't always interesting. Songs like
"Through Glass" are your average run-of-the-mill
alternative metal tunes, and after a certain point the album seems to have little new to offer.
"sillyworld" follows along the same lines, but still has more in common with
Alice Cooper's
"Only Women Bleed" than a
Godsmack song. Still,
Come What(ever) May has plenty of shining moments and it rocks hard, channeling
heavy metal and blending it with alternative melodies. It's an unyielding effort from a promising talent -- one that might just help save
alternative metal from becoming deeply generic.
~Megan Frye, All Music Guide
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