Staind – The Illusion Of Progress

Staind is back for another round of ‘woe is me’ tales. This time around the album is called “The Illusion Of Progress” but it could’ve just as well been dubbed “Break The Cycle” or “14 Shades Of Grey”. Oh no wait, they already released those albums. It sometimes gets kinda confusing when all of a band’s songs sound exactly the same.

Take some grungy guitars, midtempo rhythms with enough ‘sensitive’ moments and a chorus that bursts out of the speakers and you’re looking at a Staind song. Do you still remember “It’s Been Awhile”? Well, it’s on here again in an acoustic version, just to remind you that yes, this is the same band that had that hit several years ago.

Grown ups singing cliché-riddled lyrics like ‘believe in me / this life isn’t always what it seems’ only to switch to ‘save me’ in the next song in a voice that sounds as if even singing it once costs too much energy… it’s kinda like hearing their buddy Fred Durst rapping about doing it all for the nookie while he’s got teenage girls onstage. Quite sad actually.
Score: 3.5 out of 10
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