Come What(ever) May

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What sets Stone Sour apart from others of their breed is the band's ability to create smooth, radio-friendly alternative metal songs while simultaneously not boring the people who have heard way too much from post-grunge groups. The secret to this lies in guitarist James Root's unique style and drummer Roy Mayorga's unyielding intensity. Root and singer Corey Taylor re-created Stone Sour after the success of Slipknot in the late '90s; the band was meant to serve as a more introspective, melodic, and creative outlet for them, while not disenfranchising the fans of Slipknot. Stone Sour are more fierce than most alternative metal groups, incorporating brash heavy metal into many of their songs. The band's aggressive self-titled debut was far more reminiscent of Slipknot, but Come What(ever) May is moving further and further away from the shock rock, rap-rock aspect that originally brought Slipknot into the mainstream. Taylor lets loose his nearly metal growl (which is nearly untouchable compared to most of his contemporaries) on occasion, but maybe not as often as he should. The album's better moments are felt when his relentless, vicious pipes — coupled with distortion-heavy riffs and double bass drum — forge their way through the immaculately produced sound. Come What(ever) May starts out strong with the bass drum-heavy "30/30-150." The song explodes out of the speakers; it's a solid metal start for an album that dips between alternative rock, heavy metal, and post-grunge. Unfortunately, the album isn't always interesting. Songs like "Through Glass" are your average run-of-the-mill alternative metal tunes, and after a certain point the album seems to have little new to offer. "Sillyworld" follows along the same lines, but still has more in common with Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed" than a Godsmack song. Still, Come What(ever) May has plenty of shining moments and it rocks hard, channeling heavy metal and blending it with alternative melodies. It's an unyielding effort from a promising talent — one that might just help save alternative metal from becoming deeply generic. [A version released on Roadrunner included a bonus track.]