Nickelback
The State
Roadrunner Records
If Nickelback had tried any harder to sound like a radio-friendly hard rock band, they’d be playing cover songs for a living. Instead, though, they just got Garth Richardson (of Rage Against The Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers fame) to mix their new album, which is 11 songs of contrived distortion and emotionally belted lyrics. Heavy guitar licks and scratchy interludes move this disc along, and their lead vocalist sounds about as heavily formatted and impersonating as possible, complete with that faint yet indescribably familiar grunt under every other word. Straight from Canada, Nickelback is Pearl Jam and Stabbing Westward and Silverchair all wrapped up into one neat little package – a tragically common one.
Roadrunner Records, 536 Broadway, New York, NY 10012
