Stone Temple Pilots With Chester Bennington - High Rise
Thursday, 10 October 2013
Written by Gemma-Louise Johnson
When Stone Temple Pilots and Scott Weiland parted ways in February, it wasn’t the biggest surprise of them all. There had been numerous spats since their ‘90s heyday, Weiland’s well-publicised drug addiction and successful spell as frontman of Velvet Revolver, so in the eyes of many it was only a matter of time before the inevitable came to fruition.
With legal battles ongoing, the De Leo brothers, Dean and Robert, and Eric Kretz re-emerged as Stone Temple Pilots with Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington as their lead singer.
Stone Temple Pilots (with Chester Bennington) doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. ‘High Rise’ is the band's first recording project since Weiland’s dismissal, and although their sound remains largely the same the addition of Bennington on vocals brings to light a vapid makeover, one that fans could struggle to appreciate.
Out Of Time, nevertheless, is a superb opener. Charging off into epic territory, it’s the EP’s only track to strictly retain their post grunge blueprint. The ingredients are all there: catchy hooks, with angular riffs, and Bennington’s performance gets off to a good start as he readily introduces a noisy new side to proceedings. But at the same time, it fails to avoid the Linkin Park larynx and it all heads south from there.
Black Heart should scoop an award for best Oasis impersonation, while Same On The Inside sounds like a Linkin Park cover, but isn’t. If it wasn’t for the background noise on Cry, Cry you’d start to question whether or not it is a new Linkin Park track. Although Bennington’s one-of-a-kind voice works exceptionally well for his own band, it doesn’t cut the mustard here. Bring back Weiland.
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