28 March 2024

Stone Sour – Hello, You Bastards: Live in Reno

Label: Roadrunner/V2 Records
Releasedate:
15 November 2019

Stone Sour is an American rock band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1992. The band performed for five years before disbanding in 1997. They reunited in 2000 and since 2015, the group has consisted of Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor (lead vocals, guitar), Josh Rand (guitar), Christian Martucci (guitar), Johny Chow (bass) and Roy Mayorga (drums). Longtime members Joel Ekman (drums, percussion) and Shawn Economaki (bass guitar) left the band in 2006 and 2011, respectively. Former lead guitarist Jim Root (Slipknot) left in 2014.

To date, Stone Sour has released six studio albums Stone Sour (2002); Come What(ever) May (2006); Audio Secrecy (2010); House of Gold & Bones – Part 1 (2012); House of Gold & Bones – Part 2 (2013) and Hydrograd (2017). They also released a digital live album, Live in Moscow, in 2007. Their album, Hydrograd was released in June 2017 and is their first album to feature guitarist Christian Martucci.

Their latest instalment is called Hello, You Bastards : Live in Reno and consists out of 16 tracks which in total will entertain you for over an hour.

Slipknot might be Corey Taylor’s high profile job, however Stone Sour was founded 3 years prior. A lot of the influences and styles have bled from one band to the other and reverse. With the ‘Knot riding high currently, it was time for Stone Sour to, again, come back to the forefront and mark their presence. This ablum is definitely one to appreciate, their live performance is as good as the studio versions of the performed songs.

Quick run through of the tracklist; ‘YSIF’ is a short 2 minute intro flowing into ‘Taipei Person/Allah Tea’. High energy and fast paced track going into ‘Do Me A Favor’, a very melodic metal track with sharp guitar and bass riffs.

Track 4 ‘Knievel Has Landed’ is a song where the vocal and guitars ‘take alternate turns’, which is perfectly executed. ‘Whiplash Pants’, slow intro before heading into a typical mosh pit anthem. ‘Absolute Zero’ continous on this for another 4 minutes of heavy head banging.

The next track ‘Bother’, maybe one of Stone Sour’s most well-known, again is performed superbly live by the band and the audience – albeit a little slow compared to the previous songs.

‘Tired’ kicks the tempo up a gear with a rather lush heavy metal track. It seems that Stone Sour has picked up the ‘audience participation’ from other bands and Corey will let the audience sing the songs back to them.

‘Rose Red Violent Blue’ has some blues influences and is easy to listen to enjoying a nice something-on-the-rocks, kicking back in a chair with a roaring fire.

’30/30-150′ starts of with down tuned bass guitars and fast paced – this one of those where the influences from either band have merged. ‘Get inside’ continues this trend with recognisable tunes.

‘Reborn’ and ‘Song #3’ are a bit quieter and slower, with vocals taking the upper hand.

‘Through Glass’ is a rather acoustic sounding track with several moments where the instruments take a more supportive role. ‘Made of Scars’ kicks in with a bass riff and drum play, Corey talking to the audience before kicking the song off.

The last track ‘Fabuless’ which is more or less an encore. Typical track where aspects of all the previous songs are revisited, growls accompany singing.

I cannot falter this album, never really listened to Stone Sour, but it pleasantly surprised me and I will keep it in my playlist for now until I find something better. 😉

Line up:

  • Corey Taylor – vocals
  • Josh Rand – guitar
  • Christian Martucci – guitar
  • Johny Chow – Bass
  • Roy Mayorga – Drums
Stone Sour
  1. YSIF
  2. Taipei Person / Allah Tea
  3. Do Me a Favor
  4. Knievel Has Landed
  5. Whiplash Pants
  6. Absolute Zero
  7. Bother
  8. Tired
  9. Red Rose Violent Blue
  10. 30/30-150
  11. Get Inside
  12. Reborn
  13. Song #3
  14. Through Glass
  15. Made of Scars
  16. Fabuless

Links:

Stone Sour Official
Stone Sour Facebook