Elektra / Wea
2005
Chapter V (Explicit)
About This Album
By Staind album five it's remarkable how much bile still sits in Aaron Lewis' gut, how much mental anguish he's endured. But what's equally remarkable is how diligently he regurgitates it. He's like the post-grunge Job. Arguably emotion trumps Layne Staley and Alice in Chains as being the biggest component in this music. Lewis' first-person therapy drove the 2001 breakthrough "It's Been Awhile," his psyche was the star of 2003's 14 Shades of Grey, and he's once again searching, waiting, wondering, and flailing on Chapter V. "I'm still wearing this miserable skin," he cries in the churning "Please." "Why can't you just forgive me?" he pleads in the moody lead single, "Right Here." "I don't want to relive all the mistakes/I've made along the way." Staind often settles into a stodgy trudge somewhere south of melody, and the Alice/Pearl Jam/Tool forces are still strong. ("Devil" is like a Pearl Jam-branded template.) But the thing about Lewis is that he's just so genuine. Hundreds of frontmen pour out their emotions, from post-grunge bruisers to diary-clutching emo ninnies. But you can tell it's not a gimmick with Lewis.
Track List (try tracks 2,5,6,9,10 and 11)

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