staind

Wow. It’s not often a band declares “Oh yeah, we’re gonna get back to our heavy roots on the new album” and then actually delivers on that statement. Staind really mean it.

I haven’t been more than a casual fan of the band since Dysfunction was released back in 1999 (Christ, has this band been around that long?) but the songs I’ve heard off of the forthcoming Staind disc (due September 13th) give me a lot of hope for this one, their seventh.

So far, “Eyes Wide Open” and “Not Again”, tracks one and two on Staind have been released (Along with “The Bottom” from the latest Transformers movie) and now we have “Paper Wings” to whet our appetites even more. It blends beauty with brutality so perfectly. Aaron Lewis has the growl back. Mike Mushock brings the sludge to the forefront on guitar and bassist Johnny April reinforces the low end throughout.