Stone Sour
Audio Secrecy
Release Date: Sep 7, 2010
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative Metal, Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Art Rock, Post-Grunge
Record label: Roadrunner Records
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Album Review: Audio Secrecy by Stone Sour
Very Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 9/10
Corey Taylor promised us a more mature and darker record and he delivered it Corey Taylor promised us it’d be “more mature sounding and darker” than previous efforts and we can safely say that album number three fulfils that criteria on all levels. Building on 02’s self-titled debut and 06’s Billboard-charting ‘Come What(ever) May’, ‘Audio Secrecy’ demonstrates a band heading for their pinnacle via an assortment of fi nely executed tracks each tempered by different textures, moods and tones. Take ‘Hesitate’ – a truly heartfelt lamentation via tender lyrics that display Taylor’s more fragile side yet, although it’s one of the album’s most touching tracks, it’s also one of the biggest sounding, recalling the power ballads of the late 80s.
Based on rating 8/10
Stone Sour has always been an odd sort of experiment. Normally you’d expect the band of straight-ahead rockers to don wild costumes and thrash out behind a shroud of anonymity. Instead we find members of shock rock outfit Slipknot stripping away the makeup and bombast of their day job for something that seems subdued in comparison, creating a driving sound that manages to be more mature while avoiding the shambolic pitfalls of Kiss’ “unmasked” period.
Based on rating 7/10
Corey Taylor may be best known for his role as the lead singer of Slipknot, but it’s in his hard rock side project Stone Sour that he utilizes the fullest extent of his talent. The group’s self-titled 2002 album displayed a completely different side of Taylor from what was seen in Slipknot, as he bared his soul through more mature and diverse songs. Both “Get Inside” and “Inhale” received Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance, but the clincher was the heart-rending single “Bother”, showing just what a skilled and versatile singer Taylor was.
Based on rating 1.5/5
It’s a source of unending bafflement why [b]Corey Taylor[/b], as lynchpin of [a]Slipknot[/a], the most essential metal band of their generation, should have wanted to form [a]Stone Sour[/a] in the first place. Their uniquely dour brand of over-earnest, borderline-misogynist issue-ridden dull-rock has nevertheless become huge in its own right and this third set, undoubtedly accomplished, is no less hateful for it by its very nature. Just when you think [b]‘Audio Secrecy’[/b] can get no more infuriating, you find the most overwrought of the ballads lodging their tunes inside the melodic part of your cranium.
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