Taylor's band doesn't hit sour note

With Stone Sour's self-titled album, we find Corey Taylor of Slipknot delving into the "lighter" music he can't play with his current band. But Stone Sour actually came first, so he's going back to a style of music that he's obviously comfortable with. This music is a hell of a lot more melodic than his music with Slipknot, but it has just as much power and thrust behind it as anything he's released.\nStone Sour takes the heavy sound that fans are used to hearing all the time and somewhat commercializes it. Sure, his prior albums with Slipknot have sold extremely well in alt-metal circles, but the music never really spread to top-40 radio. Some songs on Stone Sour have a serious chance of getting played into the ground, thanks to bands like Staind that opened the door.\n"Bother," the CD's first single, is slow and melodic and, surprisingly, has intelligent lyrics. I'm impressed by the sound on this one -- it's light acoustic fare with vocals that really make you want to listen. "Wish I was too dead to cry / My self affliction fades / Stones to throw at my creator," Taylor sings, emotion dripping from every note. "Wish I was too dead to care / If indeed I cared at all." The song rises to a crescendo and then slams the listener with some of the best harmony Taylor has produced.\nDon't think for a moment that Taylor has given up on the hard-hitting music that earns him his fans. This album has plenty of that sound to go around. But what Stone Sour proves is that creativity will reign when artists take the time to develop and change. Taylor shows his range, and the album is all the better for it. This is certainly an album that will improve with every listen, and I strongly recommend it.