House Of Gold & Bones – Part 2

To a certain extent, your enjoyment of the second part of Stone Sour’s double (the first iteration of which I reviewed here) will depend on two things – namely, how much you enjoyed the first part, and how sensitive you are to the recycling of old musical ideas.

The album certainly starts in a very different way to its predecessor: ‘Red City’ chugs along and builds up gradually, in stark contrast to Part 1’s menacing ‘Gone Sovereign’.  ‘Black John’, the album’s second track, plunges us into more familiar Stone Sour territory, albeit with an industrial edge reminiscent of Rob Zombie or Rammstein.  This song is the first of many on the album to feature refrains to Part 1, re-using the main riff of ‘My Name Is Allen’, but twisting into something more interesting.  ‘Sadist’ is next, providing the album’s first ballad.  Whilst certainly listenable, it is unremarkable in many respects.

Part of the risk in recording a double album is that even if you produce twenty-three fantastic songs, without enough stylistic variation, it’s going to end up being somewhat of a chore for the listener to get through.  This album narrowly avoids such an issue during the end of its first half, with cuts including the angsty ‘Peckinpah’, outstandingly noisy grunger ‘Gravesend’, and the uplifting ’82’; all of which deliver just enough of their own identities to avoid a mid-album rut.

Next up, the less impressive ‘The Uncanny Valley’ provides some calm before a storm.  It’s another unspectacular track which seems to act as a buffer for the real triumph of this album, which is its blazing final third.   ‘Do Me A Favor’, the album’s lead single, is just about the catchiest thing across both parts of House Of Gold & Bones, and contains another excellent reference to an earlier track, this time to ‘A Rumor Of Skin’.

‘The Conflagration’ really shows off vocalist Corey Taylor’s abilities, as an orchestral arrangement adds to its haunting feel.  There’s a country influence here, but it’s not overstated, and the track shows us yet again just how much Stone Sour have matured as a band in recent years.  The whole experience is topped off by the title track: a storming riff-fest which may unfortunately be a little too similar to Part 1’s ‘Absolute Zero’ for its own good, though it serves as an absolute riot by itself.

A fitting end, as Part 2 is probably the stronger of the two releases individually, despite its familiarity.  The two-part piece as a whole represents one of the strongest creative periods of the band’s career, and is well worth a listen for fans and casual listeners of the band alike.

Similar To: Slipknot, Alice In Chains

MP3: ‘Gravesend’, ‘Do Me A Favor’