NickelBack The Long Road (Roadrunner/EMI) Rating: N
Rating: N
Nickelback’s latest opus is a stunning example of everything that’s wrong with modern rock. Meaty thunka-thunk drumming and toneless buzzsaw guitars sound like the producers handed instruments to a gorilla clan in the studio. Chad Kroeger’s constipated vocals and mawkish lyrics make Avril look like Virginia Woolf. The power ballads are overwrought the aggressive rockers are boneheaded. The only moderately enjoyable moment is their cover of Elton John’s Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting), but only for the sheer novelty of Nickelback covering a fucking Elton John tune.