SOUND BITES

When looking for clues as to what brought Stone Sour from the cinematic and intensely creative House of Gold & Bones double album to the riff-infested throwback Hydrograd , one needs look no further than the pair of covers EPs they released in 2015. The ten songs given the Stone Sour treatment put Corey Taylor's love of classic rock, classic metal and classic grunge to tape, and the performances were as faithful as can be expected by anyone who's killed a couple of hours on YouTube watching Taylor do covers live. Those covers were done a little too safely and carefully to make them stand out in any significant way, but they were a suitable initiation for new guitarist Christian Martucci, and the band sounded like they were having a blast going through the classics; that spirit flows through Hydrograd as well, as does the presence of Martucci (in the liner notes nicknamed "Tooch"), with an abundance of guitar solos that hearken back to the glory days of hard r...

STONE SOUR House Of Gold & Bones From: House Of Gold & Bones Part 2 Released: April 9 The last of the rationed double albums from the fall of 2012 to make good on their own completion, Stone Sour's House Of Gold & Bones showed more complexity, chops and songwriting muscle than most folks will readily admit. As a double album, it does have its share of filler, but as a concept it's well executed and consistently rewarding. And the title track brings it all to a thrashing, glorious climax.

Well, here's an odd pair. Stone Sour wraps up their double album House Of Gold & Bones with the release of Part 2 next week. Stream it in its entirety at the band's official website . While overall a little slower and mellower than the first installment, House Of Gold & Bones Part 2 is far darker and furious; it's a nice balance, and it makes for a consistently entertaining listen. House Of Gold & Bones Part 2 is out April 9 on Roadrunner. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, meanwhile, return about four years removed from the polarizing dance-rock of It's Blitz with Mosquito , an album which has to have the worst cover of the year. It just has to. The music on Mosquito won't convert you if you're not on board, and it doesn't measure up to Fever To Tell (hint: nothing they do ever will). But, it's interesting enough, it dials back the synths and dance beats somewhat, and it's presented in a neat video with the band talking it up between tra...

STONE SOUR Taciturn From: House Of Gold & Bones Part 1 Released: October 23 It's ironic that Taciturn is my favourite song from the first half of Stone Sour's double album opus; after all, my biggest concern with Audio Secrecy was its over dependance on balladry. House Of Gold & Bones Part 1 , for the most part, rocks much harder than Stone Sour's last couple of albums; some of its songs approach Slipknot levels of heavy. With Part 2 due in spring, it's too early to tell if House Of Gold & Bones will become my favourite Stone Sour album, but the consistency in quality of the first half is very encouraging. Which brings me to Tactiturn ; an outright ballad that should have drawn my exasperation finds another gear at the four-minute mark, its wheels leave tarmac and the song soars. Go figure: I scoff at ballads, they give me their heaviest album, I like the ballad best. I'm so fickle sometimes.

This is the time of year when big rock releases slow down, making way for a month of big pop releases before we all get a couple months off to reflect on the year that was. 2012 is shaping up just a bit differently; there are a couple of powerhouse releases out on November 13 (Soundgarden and Green Day), plus one that won't sell as much but has me more excited than the powerhouses (Deftones). So no, next week isn't really the last big week of the year for rock fans. However, if you love heavy music, it's like Christmas for you. And yes, I'm about to make a terrible joke; Christmas has come early.

Well, that was nice, wasn't it? Late July to early August usually signify the "dog days" of summer, and the music industry suffers from them with the rest of us. Now, though, it's time to start hyping up the fall release schedule, which is filling up fast. Buckle in, kids; business, as they say, is about to pick up.