Just a few months after the release of the brilliant Part 1, Stone Sour are back with the House Of Gold & Bones: Part 2. It’s darker, lyrically more challenging and has Stone Sour setting the benchmark for concept albums as the listener is catapulted into a dark twisted world.
The band has challenged its audience to board the journey of ‘The Human’ the main character the record is arranged around as it ebbs and flows with his challenges and the demented world he has been propelled into.
“Red City” starts the album in an unfamiliar way from previous Stone Sour projects, as frontman Corey Taylor sets the scene against a haunting piano background building to a crescendo and kicking the listener into “Black John” where the pure rock comes to the fore. It’s a pattern that continues throughout the album as we are taken on a journey that becomes clearer upon every listen of the album.
“Peckinpah” is one of the more metal songs of the album as drummer, Roy Mayorga belts the drums into submission and fellow band mates James Root and Josh Rand create a groove metal feel towards its conclusion.
“Gravesend” is a highlight of the album with Taylor almost transforming into the devil himself as his vocal range verges upon growls of venom, “What have I become? If the daylight stain me, I just want to be dead for good. When the spirit makes me I will die like a good man should”
The album ends with the title track , a classic Stone Sour tune containing all the groove metal/hard rock that previous albums were renowned for.
The ambience the overall album provides with each song and lyric melding together takes the listener on a musical journey, albeit a terrifying one.
