Country: USA
Year: 2001
Tracklst:
1. Open Your Eyes
2. Pressure
3. Fade
4. It's Been Awhile
5. Change
6. Can't Believe
7. Epiphany
8. Suffer
9. Safe Place
10. For You
11. Outside
12. Waste
13. Take It
14. It's Been Awhile (Acoustic)
Korn, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, POD, The Offspring, Deftones, System Of A Down, Slipknot, Incubus, among others, were groups that marked an era in the life of many, and the emergence of the named "Nü Metal", in the late 90's and early the following decade. On that beautiful epoch, the content coming through MTV Latin America was not very different from USA or other countries in general, allowing a strong and quick expansion of promising new bands, sounds and melodies.
Staind was one of those groups, lucky and talented enough to reach with their music to a wide audience, what years ago would have been much more difficult to achieve without the massive scope of MTV and the internet. It's amazing to look back and remember that in those days the mp3 was by far the best compression format, and having internet access and a digital player was a almost a luxury.
Staind's third album, "Break The Circle", is quite possibly their best one, not just because of the novelty brought, but also because of the quality of almost every track in it. With it, they jumped to fame after the modest success of his last album and its single "Mudshovel", which everyone has probably listened, at some point.
The first album song gives a glimpse of the large amount of metal present in the style. After, "Suffer", a much heavier track, reasserts it. But then, "Fade" changes the picture and so it starts to be seen that it's rather the melody what characterizes the style, and not a heavy Nü Metal. In fact, despite the heavy riffs throughout the album, the particular distorted guitar sounds and the great bass playing, the songs are always very melodic.
It is that blend of melody and heavy metal, what made Staind and other early Nü Metal groups, so successful around the year 2000. At that time, little or no room in the scene was given, by the massive music media, to almost every metal band. That particular "soft metal" worked as a link between pop and more "heavy" metal bands like Korn or Killswitch Engage, making thenceforth room to the metalcore, death metal and others similar styles. Staind has a piece of the merit of opening the musical spectrum to all of us.
Songs like Open Your Eyes and Pressure, at that time, were so damn impressive, with a design so heavy, so melodic, and with an audio so good, that there was no chance at all that this band could pass unperceived.
Conceptually, their third work goes away from the previous albums, which were much less melodic and progressive. Just listening to the first disk song, makes you realize how different it is to the previous ones, bursting into the style, so far known, melodic songs like "It's Been Awhile" and "Outside", as well as progressive ones like "Fade"; also some wonders like "Pressure". In short, there was an improvement in the composition and an extension of it, exploring new mixes and tunes, and of course improving the sound. There is a lot to praise but also something to criticize, in this third album.
The main critic to this work, to us, is the inconsistency in the binding between chorus and riff, in songs like Fade, Suffer or Change. It seems like the verses were removed from completely different songs -like a copy-paste between a paper about anal sex and the bible- with no relation at all, ruining the entire song. It comes to occur in these tracks what should never happen in a pop music piece: the riff is much better than the verse. This escapes the very nature of the verse, as a part of a song structure. Really, what's the point in repeating the same shity tune or melody three times per track if it makes unbearably bad? Still, as always, is a matter of taste, and this time you can save the point noting that the sudden changes in the scales go together with the lyrics. In their latest album to date, just called "Staind", this progressive nonsense does not exist at all, and we are deeply grateful for that.
Beyond that, the record is brilliant and it's a pleasure to hear. It's an album of highs and lows clearly, with very good songs like Pressure and others not so worth listening to, like Safe Place or Change; but generally it leaves a very good taste.
More than ten years after its release, Break The Circle still shines by itself as a great album, but also as an old jewel that made what is today the vast pop music scene.
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