Immediately, it’s clear that this is a radically different beast to Slipknot: boasting a grungy, punk-metal edge that points towards a love for Alice In Chains and Metallica, Stonesour turns down the militaristic assault in favour of an intimate, earnest and comparatively conventional heavy rock collection. The beefy opener, "Get Inside" is a meaty rock-out for the dedicated ‘Knothead. But further in, there’s some real surprises: "Cold Reader" and "Monolith" match their intense riffs with a bare lyrical edge far more revealing that any Slipknot song. All the same, neither can prepare you for "Bother"--a confessional, acoustic song that faintly calls to late-period Metallica, Corey singing "Wish I was too dead to care / If indeed I care at all" over keening violins and a mellow guitar line that, impossi...
The beginning of something..., 2008-04-24
Stone Sour: Stone Sour

Much more abrasive is the debut, than the more mellow `Come What (Ever) May'. This is `Stone Sour'. This is Corey Taylor's more `mellow' side project aside from Slipknot, supposedly. This album isn't really all that different from his Slipknot stuff.

`Get Inside' is brutal. It absolutely rips your ears to shreds. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's not for the faint hearted. That is as obvious as the light of day.

Taylor screams repeatedly on the opener. You don't really want to be playing this to your parents if you can help it, put it this way.

Track two is `Orchids'. It's more mellow, and showcases Taylor's songwriting abilities. And he is a very good songwriter at that. I think it's quite obvious that when this was released, true believers in music knew that Taylor and the rest of Stone Sour had so much more to offer so that by the time the second album came around it would be one of the best metal albums that year. And it proved to be that way.

Musically, Stone Sour are an excellent band. Guitarists James Root and Josh Rand are excellent guitarists and the other band members can showcase their talents very well.

What this album offers is raw anger and the fact that it's so raw shows that it's offensive, blunt, and plain angry. Corey Taylor wears his heart on his sleeve seemingly in some of these songs. And that's not a bad thing. It's easy enough to be overly macho when being a lead singer of a hard-rock/ metal band and all that but the truth is that on a song such as `Bother' he shows his more human side. And that is one of the songs that makes me stamp my approval on it one hundred percent.

Good points: Some killer riffs, Taylor's genuine rage is expressed almost throughout, great lyrics, and `Omega' is one of the most remarkable `songs' I have ever heard. It showcases Taylor's poetic talent brilliantly. Other songs like `Inhale' , `Bother' and `Idle Hands' show a more personal side to Taylor that we don't see very often.

Bad points: Very raw, not too much variety, a bit samey. Some songs drag a bit.


Sound quality: 9/10
So let's rate these songs then:

Get Inside: 9.5/10
Orchids: 9/10
Cold Reader: 8.5/10
Blotter: 8.5/10
Choose: 9/10
Monolith: 9.5/10
Inhale: 9.5/10
Bother: 9.5/10
Blue Study: 8/10
Take a Number: 8.5/10
Idle Hands: 9.5/10
Tumult: 9/10
Omega: 9/10

Overall verdict: 9/10

A brilliant, bold, ambitious debut that sets the band in excellent stead for the future - Corey Taylor's side project looks to be a great idea here.

It is impossible that any serious fan of modern music is not familiar with at least the singles collected here ("Pretty Vacant", "Anarchy In The UK", "God Save The Queen"). Jamie Reid's lurid yellow-and-pink sleeve artwork is also an enduringly influential cultural artefact. Mostly, though, what should never be forgotten about Never Mind. . . is that when all the mischief and mayhem it inspired or caused has been stripped away, it is a truly great rock & roll album: guitars as angry and adrenalised as any ever recorded, killer tunes, and Johnny Rotten's inimitable voice--the definitive articulation of disgust. Altogether perfect. Every era, and every home, should have one. --Andrew Mueller
Working class kids speaking their mind., 2010-04-23
A brilliant example of working class kids singing against the class system, despite Britain still not being too accepting of speaking out against the Monarchy, as happened when the charts were rigged so that God Save the Queen single wasn't given the No 1 slot by the BBC charts during the Queen's jubilee.