Nickelback
Feed the Machine
BMG
2017
Imagine the illegitimate child of Metallica and Bon Jovi, corporate safe rock, with just enough “edge” to sound “real” appealing to millennials and yuppies, perfecting the homogenized “rock” to the point where Creed left up.
Samey riffs, Kroegers annoying croon a production that’s good, but “plastic” and clinical, without any real bite… a few ballads and a dime a dozen “nu”-bops.
The title track is a corpo-rock “anthem of rebellion”… which is sort of passable, but really meh…
“Coin for the Ferryman” tries to sound up “badass”, by not basing itself on some meaty riff, but using every “lyrical” cliché in the book… let’s say, while it worked and sounded charming for some 80s bands, it really sounds as badass as Katy Perry covering Motorhead… which well, we haven’t heard just yet, but who knows… after Metallica’s jam with Lady G, anything goes! Bring on Mayhem with Nicky Minaj, biatches!
“Song on Fire” is a by the numbers ballad, that’s ok and might chart in the lows… the band was kind of “charming” as a one of with “how you remind me” which did hit a double no1, but hasn’t managed to repeat that task even in nine albums and really sounds on “auto pilot” since that – actually third album.
“Must be Nice” is very derivative of an 80s pop song, lyrically and I don’t even have any comments about the minimal arrangement it bothers to go in…
“After the Rain” is a passable second rate ballad, with a bit more modern sound, but really filler… as is the lite-nu-rap of “For The River”. Boring… these guys make goddamn Kid Rock sound “complex”…
“Home” is the ponderous mid-tempo, about “the issues” of living as a rock star on the road, away from your loved ones! I wonder what people like army-service men and women or mariners might have to say about that…
“The Betrayal (Act III)” is a thoughtless bass heavy alt nu rocker that begins after a bit of acoustic stuff, which doesn’t really go anywhere, despite building for a while, with a start/stop chorus that can’t really impact much…
“Silent Majority” doesn’t try too hard, being a thoughtful even slightly poppy thoughtful number that’s probably the best moment of the album, really feeling a bit more sincere than “FTM”.
“Every Time We’re Together” is plagued by even more clichés of the home-returning “hero” that feels like a stranger in his own time and reminisces and sings about getting drunk etc… see it’s not that’s I’ve grown old and this “shocks me”… even if they wanted Nickelback couldn’t shock a ten year old even if their lives depended on it! It’s that it never sounded “sincere” to me to begin with; it feels “fake”, just does and these middle of the road tracks don’t really do much to shake the image off.
Lastly, “The Betrayal (Act I)” is an air that feels inspired by the intro of “(Act III)” and could have been an outro that was conceived but not stuck at the end of it, due to its more aggressive nature… a nice enough piece of music if not a bit simple, on its own right…
About two and a half songs that I liked and a vibe, I don’t really dig, with a production that’s clinical and a style that’s repetitive and formulaic… as much as I like a lot of Canadian exports, these guys and Bieber are enough reasons to go tell the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of (put any country you fancy here) that they’re making fun of him (!!!) over the border – (I know, I know it’s a terrible joke – but a friggin joke nonetheless!)…
Samey riffs, Kroegers annoying croon a production that’s good, but “plastic” and clinical, without any real bite… a few ballads and a dime a dozen “nu”-bops.
The title track is a corpo-rock “anthem of rebellion”… which is sort of passable, but really meh…
“Coin for the Ferryman” tries to sound up “badass”, by not basing itself on some meaty riff, but using every “lyrical” cliché in the book… let’s say, while it worked and sounded charming for some 80s bands, it really sounds as badass as Katy Perry covering Motorhead… which well, we haven’t heard just yet, but who knows… after Metallica’s jam with Lady G, anything goes! Bring on Mayhem with Nicky Minaj, biatches!
“Song on Fire” is a by the numbers ballad, that’s ok and might chart in the lows… the band was kind of “charming” as a one of with “how you remind me” which did hit a double no1, but hasn’t managed to repeat that task even in nine albums and really sounds on “auto pilot” since that – actually third album.
“Must be Nice” is very derivative of an 80s pop song, lyrically and I don’t even have any comments about the minimal arrangement it bothers to go in…
“After the Rain” is a passable second rate ballad, with a bit more modern sound, but really filler… as is the lite-nu-rap of “For The River”. Boring… these guys make goddamn Kid Rock sound “complex”…
“Home” is the ponderous mid-tempo, about “the issues” of living as a rock star on the road, away from your loved ones! I wonder what people like army-service men and women or mariners might have to say about that…
“The Betrayal (Act III)” is a thoughtless bass heavy alt nu rocker that begins after a bit of acoustic stuff, which doesn’t really go anywhere, despite building for a while, with a start/stop chorus that can’t really impact much…
“Silent Majority” doesn’t try too hard, being a thoughtful even slightly poppy thoughtful number that’s probably the best moment of the album, really feeling a bit more sincere than “FTM”.
“Every Time We’re Together” is plagued by even more clichés of the home-returning “hero” that feels like a stranger in his own time and reminisces and sings about getting drunk etc… see it’s not that’s I’ve grown old and this “shocks me”… even if they wanted Nickelback couldn’t shock a ten year old even if their lives depended on it! It’s that it never sounded “sincere” to me to begin with; it feels “fake”, just does and these middle of the road tracks don’t really do much to shake the image off.
Lastly, “The Betrayal (Act I)” is an air that feels inspired by the intro of “(Act III)” and could have been an outro that was conceived but not stuck at the end of it, due to its more aggressive nature… a nice enough piece of music if not a bit simple, on its own right…
About two and a half songs that I liked and a vibe, I don’t really dig, with a production that’s clinical and a style that’s repetitive and formulaic… as much as I like a lot of Canadian exports, these guys and Bieber are enough reasons to go tell the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of (put any country you fancy here) that they’re making fun of him (!!!) over the border – (I know, I know it’s a terrible joke – but a friggin joke nonetheless!)…