Staind 14 Shades Of Grey (Elektra/Warner) Rating: NN
Rating: NN
Apparently, Staind’s previous album, Break The Cycle, was even more successful than its nearly 7 million sales would indicate, as it seems to have liberated them from remaking the same gloomy thud-metal mope fest. That’s not to say that 14 Shades Of Grey is an improvement. You get a pile of cash and a home in the Berkshires, and who wants to gripe about childhood trauma? Simply put, Staind have gone soft in an adult pop crossover bid. The horribly sappy Zoe Jane (inspired by the recent birth of frontman Aaron Lewis’s daughter) and a number of sensitive power ballads won’t be rockin’ the mosh pits this summer. Time to focus on the pain of prosperity and critical dismissal.
Staind’s show at the Kool Haus Wednesday (May 28) should be a lighter-waver.
