Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Stone Sour: House of Gold & Bones

OK, so who here has already checked out some of the new material from Stone Sour?  I know this has been all over the music news for some time now, so I think it about time to give my readers a lil taste of what is to come.  Stone Sour (featuring members of Slipknot and Soulfy) have announced their plans to release "House of Gold & Bones Part 1" on October 23rd, 2012 via long time label Roadrunner Records.


1. Gone Sovereign
2. Absolute Zero
3. A Rumor of Skin 
4. The Travellers Part 1
5. Tired    
6. RU486
7. My Name Is Allen
8. Taciturn
9. Influence of a Drowsy God
10. The Travellers Part 2
11. Last of the Real



In short, both parts combined will "tell the story of a young man faced with the choice of staying an adolescent or becoming an adult."  This will also mark the first album from SS that doesn't feature bassist Shawn Economacki, who left the band in early 2012.

So what about a preview?

Well, as luck would have it, I've been sitting on this article long enough to have audio/visual to show for it.  Corey Taylor  and the rest of the guys release some preview material for the first two tracks "Gone Sovereign" and "Absolute Zero", where Taylor gave a small explanation on the description of these tracks and the concept albums:

"These are the first two songs on the 'House of Gold and Bones pt. 1'. Being the first part of a set of concept albums, "Gone Sovereign" is essentially the overture and "Absolute Zero" is the Hero's anthem. It is the best way to introduce you to this new world. For more background, you'll have to wait for the full albums." -Corey Taylor


So far, the two opening tracks have come back with some positive reviews.  Most notably, a review from Artist Direct gave more of a breakdown of the album, noting the vocals, drumming, structure and lyrical content.  I am sold thus far, are you?

"Stone Sour incinerate all expectations with "Gone Sovereign/Absolute Zero", the first salvo from House of Gold and Bones Part. 1.

Beginning with one mean riff from premier guitar duo James Root and Josh Rand, frontman Corey Taylor eerily assures, 'No one's laughing now'. As the distortion echoes, tension mounts, and the song snaps into a heavy thrash break with Taylor screaming sharply.

Roy Mayorga's drums gallop vigorously alongside Rachel Bolan's distinct bass bludgeoning. Everything culminates on a bruising growl from Taylor with fiery leads surrounding it like entwining twin snakes. It's the band's heaviest and most hypnotic fare yet, and it's an introduction to the year's most infectious and important hard rock effort.

Suddenly, everything slips into a pristine chant from Taylor for 'Absolute Zero'. It's an invigorating roller coaster with the powder leg line, 'I'm not the devil, but I won't be your hero." Of course, there's some more impressive fretboard scorching as well.

Clocking in over 7 minutes, this is a statement from Stone Sour. They're not holding back. They're not backing down. They're not fucking around. They're here to change rock 'n' roll, and they're going to do it.

Are you ready to watch it go up in flames along with them?" -Artist Direct



Like Taylor stated earlier, for previews of the entire album, you're just going to have to wait...like AFGM :-( So far, I was impressed with the debut LP and "Come What(ever) May".  Audio Secrecy didn't really do much for me (maybe I should listen again though) but I find that Stone Sour really made a great effort on the latest LP and will see them getting on bigger and better tours/festivals as a result.

"Well, really, it all started last year. In October, I went over to his [Corey's] house and he played me a couple of songs he had written on or had put together, and he explained the whole concept or story of doing this concept record. And I immediately was excited, because I felt like from a musical standpoint it would allow us to do whatever we wanted. Not that we haven't done that in the past, but I really felt like it could really open some doors musically. And how we write as a band is, all of us contribute from the music side of things, and he's always written the lyrics. So the biggest thing for me was, I wanted us to be a lot more aggressive than "Audio Secrecy". Can we go in that direction? And he was, like, "Yeah, let's do it all." And that was when I really started giving him the stuff I had written on, later on in the year, like December. I flew down to Jacksonville, and Jim [Root] just jams, that's how he writes, so it's usually me that'll sit down and go through all the stuff he records, 'cause he's very much an improv player. And I started pulling a couple of ideas from that, and Roy [Mayorga, drums] started submitting stuff, and we got together in January in Des Moines and just started putting everything together." -Josh Rand

Want to catch Stone Sour on tour right now?  So far, they have a whack of shows in various places across the globe.  From native US soil, to Japan, Chile and a fair amount of Europe being covered, I'm sure the North American tour will be hot on its trail!



Oct 27 – TOKYO – Super Arena (Loud Park)
Oct 28 – OSAKA – Big Cat (Loud Park Extra)
Oct 29 – NAGOYA – Diamond Hall

Nov 10 – SANTIAGO, CHILE - Las Vizcachas
Nov 25th – PARIS, FR– Bataclan
Nov 26th – MILAN, IT – Alcatraz (with special guests Papa Roach)
Nov 29th – LUDWIGSBURG, DE – Arena (with special guests Papa Roach)
Nov 30th – VIENNA, AU – Gasometer (with special guests Papa Roach)

2nd Dec – MUNICH, DE – Zenith (with special guests Papa Roach)
3rd Dec – OFFENBACH, DE – Stadthalle (with special guests Papa Roach)
4th Dec – BERLIN, DE – Huxleys (with special guests Papa Roach)
6th Dec – OBERHAUSEN, DE – Turbinenhalle (with special guests Papa Roach)
7th Dec – AMSTERDAM, NE – Melkweg (with special guests Papa Roach)
8th Dec – TORHOUT, BE – De Mast (with special guests Papa Roach)
10th Dec – LONDON, UK – O2 Brixton Academy (with special guests Papa Roach)
13th Dec – MANCHESTER, UK – Apollo
14th Dec – WOLVERHAMPTON, UK – Civic Hall
15th Dec – BOURNEMOUTH, UK – O2 Academy
17th Dec – COPENHAGEN, DK – Vega
18th Dec – OSLO, NO – Rockefeller
19th Dec – STOCKHOLM, SE – Annexet

Feb 23, 2013 – BRISBANE, AUS (Soundwave)
Feb 24 – SYDNEY, AUS  (Soundwave)
March 1 – MELBOURNE, AUS  (Soundwave)
March 2 – ADELAIDE, AUS  (Soundwave)
March 4 – PERTH, AUS (Soundwave)



So another thing that adds a lil more sensation that the average album.  Much like Rush when they announced the novelization of their album "Clockwork Angels", Corey Taylor and the rest of the guys from Stone Sour have made plans to release a comic book series as well to co-inside with the HoG&B albums.

The company doing the dirty work is Dark Horse Comics (who have done other works such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Conan The Barbarian, etc).  The debut edition is looking to see an April 17th, 2013 release.  Taylor (who is an avid fan of comics) decided to shed some light into his excitement for the project:

“I’ve been a die-hard fan of comics, on every level, my entire life.  This has been a dream of mine for years now, and this project was tailor made for a comic, no pun intended. I couldn’t have picked a better company than Dark Horse to make this a reality. I have loved several of their titles for many years, going back to ’92. If we can get this crazy world out of my head and onto the canvas, it’ll be the best thing I’ve ever attempted. And with Dark Horse, I have every confidence that’s exactly what we’ll do.” -Taylor

I'm very impressed with the marketing behind this LP release.  In this day and age, you really got to offer people a lil more bang for their buck.  Even though the album itself will rock, a lot of bands will be pumping out album after album, so it's nice to do something like this and stand out from the crowd.  Plus, it seems lately that Taylor has been just go, go, go with material.  So all the power to him!

As you know, I update these articles whenever I can so stay tuned for more details!  For now, check SS at any of the following official links:

- www.stonesour.com
- www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Sour
- www.myspace.com/stonesour
- www.last.fm/music/Stone+Sour
- www.facebook.com/stonesour
- www.twitter.com/WeAreStoneSour
- www.youtube.com/user/StonESouR

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