Publications
Partners
Some of Dark Horse, Nickelback’s sixth studio album, rocks much harder than you might expect from a poster band for teenagers and older tenderhearts who missed the whole 'emo' thing. No echoes of "How You Remind Me" in these words: "I gotta fist full of whisky / The bottle just bit me / That shit makes me / Bat shit crazy". And on it goes: heavy distortion, metal riffs and more lyrics from the bathroom wall at Stones.
Of course, Chad has been hanging with Mutt Lange, the producer who practically invented bawdy bar rock with AC/DC in 1980’s Back in Black. Lange, it seems, has not only coaxed Kroeger’s inner rock star to come out and play, but also lashed him across the back with Nickelback's 'sissy' label. Why else a song like "Next Go Round", a (heterosexual) wet dream on steroids proposing "(We) go so long your parents think you've died / They’re gonna call the cops, the C.I.A. and the F.B.I." You’ve been warned. Better disconnect her phone.
But there's a reason Nickelback never became famous as "them angry Canadians": their gentler, melodramatic fare is much more infectious. "If Today Was Your Last Day", "I'd Come For You" and "Never Gonna Be Alone" all aim for heavy rotation, but miss the bulls eye, which has shifted somewhat since 2001. Instead, the best moment comes right at the very end, when Nickelback finally stop posturing and begin to have a good time. "This Afternoon", a summery strum about good times with friends, transforms their fire-and-bubbles dichotomy into something far more likeable: a bunch of normal guys. The beers and the booze are still there, but even a good son-in-law is allowed to knock one back every now and then, right?
Dark Horse may surprise the band’s long-time detractors, but it takes more to live up to their international stature and the expectations of their long-time fans. The 'a-ha!' moments are there, but perhaps just too few to make this a memorable record.
Of course, Chad has been hanging with Mutt Lange, the producer who practically invented bawdy bar rock with AC/DC in 1980’s Back in Black. Lange, it seems, has not only coaxed Kroeger’s inner rock star to come out and play, but also lashed him across the back with Nickelback's 'sissy' label. Why else a song like "Next Go Round", a (heterosexual) wet dream on steroids proposing "(We) go so long your parents think you've died / They’re gonna call the cops, the C.I.A. and the F.B.I." You’ve been warned. Better disconnect her phone.
But there's a reason Nickelback never became famous as "them angry Canadians": their gentler, melodramatic fare is much more infectious. "If Today Was Your Last Day", "I'd Come For You" and "Never Gonna Be Alone" all aim for heavy rotation, but miss the bulls eye, which has shifted somewhat since 2001. Instead, the best moment comes right at the very end, when Nickelback finally stop posturing and begin to have a good time. "This Afternoon", a summery strum about good times with friends, transforms their fire-and-bubbles dichotomy into something far more likeable: a bunch of normal guys. The beers and the booze are still there, but even a good son-in-law is allowed to knock one back every now and then, right?
Dark Horse may surprise the band’s long-time detractors, but it takes more to live up to their international stature and the expectations of their long-time fans. The 'a-ha!' moments are there, but perhaps just too few to make this a memorable record.
