IN REVIEW: Everclear - "Black Is the New Black"

As a slew of so called "post-grunge" albums celebrate or approach their twentieth anniversaries, it's becoming increasingly common to see a small bump in popularity for an increasingly large number of bands that saw their star fall post-Y2K, lost to time and forgotten by the majority. In terms of the drop-off, few bands experienced a more dramatic one than Everclear; after a string of dominant singles (starting with Santa Monica and ending with Wonderful) solidified them as one of radio's favourite bands circa 1995-2000, the group seemed to fall out of fashion with alarming suddenness. By the time the second half of their Songs from an American Movie double album was released, it seemed everyone had had their fill of Everclear.

The diminishing returns of the records that followed Songs from an American Movie didn't help, as the original lineup was whittled down to just frontman Art Alexakis and response to new music was lukewarm at best (their 2006 album Welcome to the Drama Club failed to crack even the top 150 in the U.S., an embarassing result for a band that had enjoyed a multi-platinum smash less than a decade before). Somehow, though, they've hung on; through extensive touring with fellow forgotten '90s bands as part of the now-annual Summerland Tour, Everclear now seems comfortable with their role as peddlers of alternative rock nostalgia.

That said, their eighth album sort of fails at that; while some of Everclear's hallmarks are on display, Black Is the New Black is by and large a meaner, more direct counterpart to the band's '90s output. The riffs are meatier, inspired as much at times by the hard rock and nu-metal that supplanted Everclear's popularity in the aughts as the chugging power chords that peppered their early records. More to the point for those of us who were there in the '90s when all of this happened, Black Is the New Black is kind of like the fourth Stone Temple Pilots record, when they tried to deal with the fallout of druggy, coolly received Tiny Music by going heavy.

This Is Your Death Song is probably the closest cousin to past hits here, a busier and noisier Everything to Everyone that doesn't sound at all out of place next to their smash hits. It's one of very few that would act as the stuff for anyone looking for a return to form, though. The majority of Black Is the New Black, while not bad, play like Everclear in name only. With one original member, I understand that's not news to anyone, and it makes sense that a different, expanded band would inevitably create something that sounds different; it's just that the end result is stuck flailing in a not nostalgic and not modern state of limbo. 

As a throwback, it takes itself too seriously, and as a rock album in 2015 it's about a decade behind the times. With a few more shameless callbacks, this could have been a fun and nostalgic trip, just like the Summerland Tour, rather than an album that's pretty good (certainly their best since 2000) but ultimately as outdated as the proudly worn chain wallets on the album's cover.

May 5, 2015 • The End

Highlights Sugar Noise • The Man Who Broke His Own Heart • This Is Your Death Song