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Drowning Pool, the heavy Metal band that went through more vocalists than any other band we know of, released their fifth studio album. This time with yet another new vocalist Jason Moreno. Before we get into their new album, here’s a bit of history of the band:
Drowning Pool jumped onto the metal scene with their first album “Sinner”, going platinum 6 weeks after it’s release. You may remember hit songs like “Bodies”, “Tear Away” and “All Over Me”. Sadly, Dave Williams died from a heart disease shortly there after. Jason Jones, who replaced Williams in 2003, recorded one album, Desensitized, but left in 2005 due to musical differences. Ryan McCombs of Chicago based rock band SOiL later replaced Jones and released two albums, Full Circle and Drowning Pool. However, McCombs left the band in 2011 to rejoin SOiL. Jasen Moreno was announced as Ryan McCombs’ replacement in 2012. [Wikipedia]
Dave Williams Jason Jones
Ryan McCombs Jason Moreno
Drowning Pool New Album ‘Resilience’ Review
That first album was a pure class, it was one of those first albums that a band release that they will never be able top. Similar to Bullet for My Valentine’s first album “Poison”. Everything after that will never quite match up. In Drowning pools case it is expected, but they did a bloody good job with their second album under Jason Jones. Every album after that was pure crap in my opinion. Perhaps that is a bit harsh, there was a few good songs among all those albums after “sinner”, but I feel that even Soil lead singer Ryan McCombs could not produce anything worthwhile. So here we are again, in great expectation we press the play button as we listen to a relatively unknown Jason Moreno as the new (and latest) vocalist. Can they produce something as spectacular as sinner again? Can they rise to the occasion or forever sink to the depths of a one-album-wonder band?
The fifth album is called Resilience, here’s the track listing:
1. Anytime Anyplace
2. Die For Nothing
3. One Finger and a Fist
4. Digging These Holes
5. Saturday Night
6. Low Crawl
7. Life of Misery
8. Broken Again
9. Understand
10. Bleed Wth You
11. Skip to the End
Bonus Tracks:
12. In Memory Of
13. Blindfold
The album kicks off with “Any time and place”, a catchy riff, and the familiar beating drums that made Drowning Pool so popular. Jason jumps in with a bit of a repetitious type screamo trying to stay up tempo with the drums. Still, it is a catchy song, and it will probably be viewed as a typical Drowning Pool song.
Sadly this seemed to be the theme for the album. Repetitious, yet we love the rhythms, the riffs, the drums. But the vocals just doesn’t cut it. It is almost like they’re trying to sound like they originally did with Sinner? Yet this might be the band trying to stick to what they do best.
The lyrics is themed (like so many of the rock/metal bands out there these days) on the whole “stand up”, do not give in”, “Keep fighting” theme which is very boring, but probably will catch on with the more rebellious younger audience. I can’t help but feel that the songs have an intentional party type anthem to it, which does not sit will with us at all. Yet as the signature double pedal beats on in the back, every song still feels well executed and aggressive.
Conclusion:
We were torn in two while listening to “Resilience”. We felt it is a repetitious party rock album, and on the other hand, if you can get used to Jason’s voice, it is classic Drowning Pool. Apart for the new vocalist, this album does not bring anything new and fresh to the world of Drowning Pool. They definitely stayed true to themselves and their fans. This album brings exactly the same as the previous two; it’s edgy, aggressive and fast. For fans of the ‘original’ Drowning Pool, you will be left wanting… reminiscing back to the days of “Sinner”, and “Bodies”.
What do you think? Give your rating below:
[kkstarratings]
