Stone Sour are back! And yes, we did just hear from them. Their new album is called The House of Gold & Bones, Part 2 and is the second half of, you guessed it, a double concept album, the first half of which came out in October of last year (QRO review).
These guys are still pretty easy to make fun of at times. For instance, there is a song on this half of the double album entitled “The Conflagration”. Only Corey Taylor would take on having to sing that world over and over and yes, he pulls it off successfully as only he could. But given the word’s meaning (a large fire), wouldn’t it have sounded cooler and more metal to call the song, “The Consuming Fire” or perhaps “The Raging Flame”? Who knows, it’s just a funny-sounding word.
Stone Sour do a good job of tying the two parts of House of Gold & Bones together. There are several places where hooks or progressions from the first part are hinted at in the second. For example, the beginning of the first part’s first track “God Sovereign” and the beginning of the second parts last track “The House of Gold & Bones” hint at each other in the guitar and drum parts.
As with almost every album released, there are pros and cons with this album. There are still lyrics like, “I’ve got nothing to prove to a son of a bitch like you,” you know, things you’ve come to expect from bands like this. But they’ve got nothing to prove to us, so what should it matter?
As far as pros go, the long and short of it is that Stone Sour are a good rock (bordering on metal) band. At the very least, it probably gives Corey Taylor and Jim Root a good outlet for a different style of music than what Slipknot is known for. Overall, this half of the double album feels a little more involved and solid than the first.
As mentioned in the review for the first half of House of Gold & Bones, Stone Sour has actually done a pretty good job of existing outside of Slipknot’s shadow and this double album is only going to help them in that regard. They have been around long enough now that there might even be fans out there that have no idea about the connection to Slipknot. Perhaps that’s the way they want it.
Stone Sour – The House of Gold & Bones
