An Album a Day is posted 5 days a week, Monday-Friday
So I've never really had an issue with Nickelback, I mean photograph was terrible but they've had some good songs too. How You Remind Me, Next Contestant and even Lullaby from their newer albums are just a few of the genuinely good songs they've done. I think we were all spoiled when we thought that Nickelback was the worst music could get, I don't know about anyone else but I'd love more radio rock on top 40 stations. With that said I understand that Nickelback are a mediocre band, so when I saw some people saying their new album was pretty good I was intrigued.
I had heard the title track already from when they first put it up on YouTube and to say NickelDjent surprised me is putting it lightly. I got to imagine that someone realized they were playing low tunings through the same digital amps that every djent band uses and decided to make the most of it. The heavier modern metal guitar sound and huge drums are found throughout this album and they make some bad songs sound good.
A good example of the music saving a mediocre song is with For The River, a decent premise that is made so much better by the drums and the two shred solos. A lot of people say their last album was where they stopped trying, well if that's the case this is where they started again. Even when the lyrics aren't great the musicianship is actually pretty good on this album.
A track I rather enjoy is Must Be Nice, which uses various nursery rhymes and children's stories before the chorus proclaims that whoever is being attacked live in a fairy tale. The use of nursery rhymes reminds me of Shoots and Ladders by Korn which featured Jonathan Davis’ twisted singing of various nursery rhymes. Must Be Nice is also one of the vaguely political tracks on the album, along with Silent Majority and Feed The Machine.
That's right folks, in between the semi country songs and typical radio friendly songs we have political Nickelback. And they do politics exactly the way you would expect a commercial band like Nickelback to do it, by generalizing. There political tirades are general enough that you can insert whatever political affiliation you want.
Feed The Machine can just as easily be about the corporate machine of Donald Trump or the political one of Hillary Clinton. Perhaps it's against political parties in general and supports anarchy or it's referencing the evil health care companies and wants single payer health care. It can literally work for any political cause. The track Silent Majority is similarly vague, although the title lends itself to Trump voters who see themselves as marginalised it can also work for members of minorities or small political parties.
Overall though, like I said with Viva La Vida, I actually prefer these type of political songs in general. That way I don't have to really think about politics when I listen to music, it's just there like, yeah it is bad when people do bad things. Muse are also big on this, making protest songs that can be applied to most causes.
This album is pretty good for the most part, certainly better than a lot of Nickelback’s other music. The hard rock/ metal edge works well on this album, making them sound like a legitimate rock band, and the guitar solos are actually pretty good. Feed The Machine overall reminds me of a mediocre rock album from the 80s, with the huge drums and mild metal influences on top of a commercial album.
Album on Google PlayAlbum on ITunes
Album on Amazon
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