Stone Temple Pilots released their new eponymous album on February 22nd. This is the band’s first full length album without the late Scott Weiland. While no one can totally replace a singer and front man like Weiland, new singer Jeff Gutt flexes his vocal chops and demonstrates why he was the best choice for the band.
The album starts off by putting listeners on notice that this isn’t going to be an artsy-fartsy, concept-type record. (Not that there is anything wrong with artsy-fartsy.)
Straight away it just felt like the album had a different feel, and the album opener ‘Middle Of Nowhere’ does not disappoint. They continue the rock experience with my personal favorite ‘Guilty’ right through to lead single ‘Meadow’. The next track, ‘Just A Little Lie’, gave me the ‘Sin’ vibes from the band’s first album ‘Core’.
The first time I felt a chill was on “I Thought You’d Be Mine’. First time through, this song felt like it may have one time been considered to be the closing track. Later on we get to the single ‘Never Enough’. Initially, I liked it but once I got to the pre-chorus and chorus: HOME RUN. This song, along with ‘Guilty’ and ‘I Thought You’d Be Mine’, are the three songs I listen to desert island style.
The last three songs I want to mention are ‘The Art Of Letting Go’, ‘Finest Hour’ and ‘Reds And Blues’. The first felt like it came directly from ‘Shangri-La Dee Da’ and made me really miss Scott, and about what he might have brought to the song. Gutt however did an amazing job. I won’t speculate who ‘Finest Hour’ is written for but I will say it is a beautifully crafted song and I felt Gutt’s emotion on this song more than any other song. The outro ‘Reds and Blues’ made me understand why it was put on as the last track. The DeLeo brothers have a nice way of ending an album whether it be the ‘Army Of Anyone’ album or ‘No. 4’. Dean’s guitar work here tells its own story without saying a word.
New singer Jeff Gutt more than holds his own and it makes for an exciting future for the band. Dean’s guitar work never seems to disappoint while brother Robert continues to lay down his own influences on the bass guitar over rock music, and they blend together perfectly. In addition to their usual blend of great music, drummer Eric Kretz plays with more aggression than I have ever heard him play with. I love when a talented drummer gets to show off his chops, sometimes in places where you’d least expect it.
The Good: Musically it doesn’t get any better than this. Listen to ‘Guilty’ and ‘Never Enough’
The Not So Good: Sonically, I prefer mixes to be a little fuller. In today’s era of mixing it sits fine. It’s just that I prefer an album mix to sound more like Pearl Jam’s ‘Vs.’ or Faith No More’s ‘Album Of The Year’, rather than the Incubus record, ‘8’. But I wouldn’t say it is bad, just a little flat for my preference.
Overall, fans of the band should be happy with this release as a sign of great things to come. I give it an 8 out of 10.
You can listen to the new single ‘Meadow’ here: