Up next on the chopping block is a band that I would say is probably hated on or at the very least clowned on. Now I’ve done reviews for Godsmack and Disturbed so I feel the time is right to put Nickelback on the chopping block. But here’s the thing, are they really that bad or are they good and people just want to hate on them just because? We shall see, so with that let’s take a look……….
Curb- ok so first impressions are that these guys sound a lot like a band like Godsmack. Like seriously give this album a listen and you can definitely tell there are a good amount of similarities between the two. One difference is that Chad Kroeger is that he doesn’t try to sound like Sully Erna meaning this album sounds like a Godsmack album minus the James Hetfield style vocals. Overall, I gotta say not a bad start and I’ll give this album a 7/10
Standouts: Little Friend, Sea Groove, Just For
The State- this one seems to have a good amount of songs that have ballad parts in them. What I mean is that they have sections that slow it down then speed up. Again it’s nothing special but not a bad album by any means. I’ll give it another 7/10
Standouts: Leader Of Men, Old Enough, Not Leavin’ Yet
Silver Side Up- so this is the album that gave us that overplayed song How You Remind Me but aside from that, the rest of the album is not bad. It’s more focused but again it’s not bad just generic sounding. I’ll give this one 8/10
Standouts: Woke Up This Morning, Hollywood, Where Do I Hide
The Long Road- one thing to point out on this one is that the guitars are noticeably heavier. I found that I enjoyed this one a little more than the last album and yes Silver Side is supposed to be one of their popular albums. Again though, it’s a good album but it isn’t anything that hasn’t been done before. I’ll give it 8.5/10
Standouts: Flat On The Floor, Believe It Or Not, Another Hole In The Head
All The Right Reasons- this is probably the one album of theirs that I could name prior to this review. One notable thing about this one is that there are guest appearances from Billy Gibbons and Dimebag (yes you read that right). Again, it’s actually a pretty decent album and I’d give this one a chance if I were a casual listener. It’s got good guitar work and the vocals aren’t bad. I will say that it’s slower than the previous record and I’ll give this one 8/10
Standouts: Follow You Home, Side Of A Bullet, For All The Wrong Reasons
Dark Horse- I feel like they tried to go back to The Long Road album. The guitar work and overall feel of this reminds me of that album. It’s certainly not as slow as the previous album. Overall, not bad and it gets 8/10
Standouts: Something In Your Mouth, Next Go Round, Burn It To The Ground
Here And Now- this one seems like an amalgamation of the last 3 albums or so but again it’s sort of the same that we’ve heard before. I’m noticing that there’s a formula with these albums. It’s write something that’s hard rock, write a ballad-y type song, repeat. I’ll give this one 7/10
Standouts: Midnight Queen, This Means War, Gotta Get Me Some
No Fixed Address- there’s something kinda weird going on with some of these songs. They’ve got these weird like I don’t know electronic type sounds in parts of the songs and it oddly fits the sound for this record. I will give them props for trying something different and I’ll give this 6/10.
Standouts: Million Miles An Hour, Make Me Believe Again
Feed The Machine- I got bored with this one pretty quickly. The songs are slow then not so slow and so on and so forth. I just couldn’t really get into it and to me this one is easily skipable. I’ll give this one 3/10
Standouts:
Get Rollin’- at first I was all like “oh awesome they’re changing things up” but while this one starts off great, it slows down. There’s just too many ballads and slower songs. That gets old and boring really quick. Yes there are some good moments on here and there are some good songs but as a whole, this one just doesn’t do it for me. I’ll give this one 5/10
Standouts: San Quentin
Well so what have we learned about this band?? Well for starters, they really aren’t THAT bad. They’re actually alright and in my opinion they’re severely overhated. The thing with these guys is that the songs that are popular are overplayed. That said, they aren’t bad just generic. Like their music isn’t anything mind blowing or brilliant but it’s just generic rock music. Their music is just stock, however, if you go into these albums with an open mind, you might find something that you like.
Final Grade: B-
Album Rankings:
- The Long Road
- Dark Horse
- Silver Side Up
- All The Right Reasons
- The State
- Curb
- Here And Now
- No Fixed Address
- Get Rollin’
- Feed The Machine
Sinister Reviews 