Album Review: Stone Sour - House Of Gold & Bones Part 1

When a new Slipknot record arrives depends on who you ask. No such identity crisis for off-shoot hard rockers Stone Sour; Corey Taylor and Jim Root have placed so much stock in their immediate future they've crafted a two-part concept album, the second chapter due next year.

2010's ultra-slick Audio Secrecy was loaded with memorable hooks, but some ballads tipped the scales too far in the radio rock direction, sounding like the kind of band Slipknot initially set out to destroy. It's quickly rectified here; overall the songwriting balance, while largely conventional structurally, is more organically executed. Opener Gone Sovereign showcases considerable melody, but bristles with greater intensity and speed. Absolute Zero fuses pounding groove with the first of many arena-reaching choruses. Hooks are there; just less saccharine, darker and tempered with a guitar-driven crunch more satisfying for punters who embraced their first two records. RU486 and Last Of The Real's grinding riffage hit a familiar, yet similarly harder-edged note; A Rumor Of Skin locates their modus operandi between hookiness and heaviness. There are introspective moments capable of landing on US radio; just less overtly so. The Travellers, Part 1 injects acoustic and orchestral flourishes; effects-laden Part 2 also adopts a wide scope within just a few minutes. Influence Of A Drowsy God revels in bombast before segueing into Taylor's incensed screams. Layered ballad Taciturn cuts deeper than many of their previous serene exercises.

The record investigates a young man at a crossroads between staying in adolescence, or facing adulthood's challenges. Stone Sour has grown up, but not forgotten what endeared them to people in the first place.