House of Gold & Bones Part 1

Breakthrough in the Stone Sour way

We have been waited for it, and it was worth it. Seems like Stone Sour are finally breaking through and the ensemble will no longer have these huge gaps between stage appearances and studio visits. The project which was for a long time seen as something secondary and insignificant, has now become fully independent from Slipknot and is living its own full life. And there is no point comparing the two bands, arguing where Corey Taylor feels better and more comfortable, and which of the outfits will outlast. Stone Sour are not on their own, and we could feel it back when they released Audio Secrecy, an album where the influence of Taylor’s original band dropped to nonexistent. As few as two years later, the band brings to the table a new long player, House Of Gold And Bones, and, moreover, announced it being only a first part of a big work, which must mean Stone Sour mean business this time. This is just the fourth release of the hard rock ensemble, but the scale of this effort gives ground to believe it is only the beginning for Stone Sour.

From one extreme to the other

The great, even penetrating, cover of the new Stone Sour record most accurately reflects the concept of this work with its center in a person struggling against inner emotional, psychological and moral conflicts. The lyrics penned by Corey Taylor for House Of Gold And Bones are undoubtedly the best of all the texts he has ever delivered. In fact, he touches upon the same problems he always has, but it catches the eye how bigger his poetic toolkit has grown, what a wide range of expressive means he uses this time. The album speeds up on two smashers, Gone Sovereign, and Absolute Zero, offering heavy music fans everything they love so much: raging double bass drums, solo duels and thick riffing. And Rumor Of Skin, for sure, will remind Stone Sour supporters of the previous album where the band made a move towards a more melodious hard rock. However, it is where the melody is fine Taylor’s voice is in its prime. Surprising is the acoustic inset The Travelers, Pt. 1, which fits the set perfectly and lets everyone catch their breath. Getting a little bit ahead, it is to be noted that the second part of The Travelers is also applied as some kind of interlude. The soft guitar sounds are associated with ballads played by glam rockers in the late eighties.

A conflict of genres where both wins

Whereas Last Of The Real, and RU486 rattle and thunder, as if demanding to be played onstage immediately before the insane crowd, Tired, and Taciturn take on a more moderate form and draw your attention not to the heaviness of guitars or mad pace of drums, but Taylor’s excellent vocal performance. The growling is replaced by actual singing, and electric guitar riffs are pushed out by acoustic guitar plucking. So, what kind of album is this House Of Gold And Bones, Pt. 1? It feels like Stone Sour are oblivious on the crossroad. They are happy to churn sweet-sounding hard rock, but tend at times to turn on high speeds and bury ears of their listeners under heavy layers of angry metal. The upside of the situation is that the band does both professionally and with one great inspiration. Taylor growls as if all the malice of the world has concentrated in him, and he sings like he has fallen in love with this very world. The duo of guitarists Jim Root and Josh Rand know what they must do and are prepared to deliver amazing instrumental miracles on and on. On the whole, Stone Sour guys have intrigued us seriously this time, and we can only guess which music will be their favorite in the second part of House Of Gold And Bones.