{"id":1870,"date":"2017-07-07T12:30:16","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T12:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-stone-sour-hydrograd\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T22:15:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T21:15:50","slug":"review-stone-sour-hydrograd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-stone-sour-hydrograd\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Stone Sour &#8211;\u00a0Hydrograd"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/a18251a00d75d6f8032251f513ea56e9\/tumblr_orrffuubTP1r8no6so2_r6_1280.jpg\" width=\"250em\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p>As far as introductions following a four-year absence go, a Russian voice exclaiming <i>\u201cHello, you bastards!\u201d<\/i> is a pretty telling one. Tongue in cheek and a million miles away from say, Slipknot\u2019s most recent opener <i>\u2018XIX\u2019<\/i>, it gives a pretty clear indication of where frontman of both bands Corey Taylor is at just now, and what this brand new <b>Stone Sour<\/b> album, <i>&#8216;Hydrograd\u2019<\/i>, sets out to achieve.<\/p>\n<p>Before delving into this album\u2019s not inconsiderable 65-minute duration, it\u2019s important to look at the events that preceded it. Fans will be pleased to know that things haven\u2019t really changed <i>too<\/i> much sonically since the departure of Jim Root, while the band\u2019s <i>&#8216;Burbank\u2019<\/i> covers EPs released in recent years have hinted at the band\u2019s new direction. Packed with classic hard rock and metal tracks, &#8216;<i>Hydrograd&#8217;<\/i> is littered with subtle references to heavy music\u2019s rich heritage.<\/p>\n<p><!-- more --><\/p>\n<p>None more obvious than the album\u2019s excellent first single <i>\u2018Fabuless\u2019<\/i>, referencing both Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, it feels more than ever the band are wearing their influences on their sleeve. The band, (and Taylor in particular) even embrace hair metal at points with <i>\u2018Taipei Person\/Allah Tea\u2019<\/i> and the anthemic <i>\u2018Thank God It\u2019s Over\u2019<\/i>. On paper, this may seem somewhat masturbatory, but with the album\u2019s cutting, raw production, it just about works.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a lot of consistency, <i>&#8216;Hydrograd\u2019<\/i>\u2019s length is its biggest problem. Ploddier numbers like <i>\u2018Mercy\u2019<\/i> and country ballad <i>\u2018St Marie\u2019<\/i> are decent enough, but ultimately could be relegated to the deluxe edition to give the record just a little more pep.<\/p>\n<p>Longtime supporters shouldn\u2019t worry though; <i>&#8216;Hydrograd\u2019<\/i>\u2019s title track and driving album highlight <i>\u2018The Witness Trees\u2019<\/i> are quintessentially <b>Stone Sour<\/b>, while <i>\u2018Whiplash Pants\u2019<\/i> will provide a fleeting rage fix for fans of their debut release.<\/p>\n<p>Simply put, if you weren\u2019t interested in <b>Stone Sour<\/b> before, &#8216;<i>Hydrograd&#8217;<\/i> is very unlikely to do much to change that. What this record does do is provide some fun, high-quality hard rock, and you get the impression that was all it was ever meant to be.<\/p>\n<p>3.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8216;Hydrograd\u2019<\/i> by <b>Stone Sour<\/b> is out now on <b>Roadrunner Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Stone Sour<\/b> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stonesour.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/stonesour\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stonesour\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Josh Graham (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jollyboyjosh_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@jollyboyjosh_<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As far as introductions following a four-year absence go, a Russian voice exclaiming \u201cHello, you bastards!\u201d is a pretty telling one. Tongue in cheek and a million miles away from say, Slipknot\u2019s most recent opener \u2018XIX\u2019, it gives a pretty clear indication of where frontman of both bands Corey Taylor is at just now, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1427,35,1428],"class_list":["post-1870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-hydrograd","tag-roadrunner-records","tag-stone-sour"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Stone Sour -\u00a0Hydrograd - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As far as introductions following a four-year absence go, a Russian voice exclaiming \u201cHello, you bastards!\u201d is a pretty telling one. 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