Released: 2010

Genres: Alternative Rock, Hard Rock, Post-Grunge

The Musiquarium’s Stone Temple Pilots Review Score: 7 out of 10

After five albums, a greatest hits compilation, and years of Scott Weiland’s self-destructive behaviour and drug abuse, Stone Temple Pilots decided they needed to take a break away from being a band and more importantly, a break from Scott Weiland. In this time, Weiland went on to front the short-lived Velvet Revolver with Guns N’ Roses alumni Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, releasing two albums… Until he repeated history and was exiled by that band as well, leading to their permanent dissolution.

With Velvet Revolver dead, Stone Temple Pilots were ripe for a comeback, but instead of returning to their grungier roots, they had decided to continue with a similar sound to Shangri La-Dee Da, mixed with some seventies rock textures.

Between the Lines was the big lead single, though the bridge sounds a little too similar to Nirvana’s Stay Away — still, it’s an enjoyable comeback single. Songs like Take a Load Off, Huckleberry Crumble, Hickory Dichotomy and Fast as I Can all have an Aerosmith twang. Hazy Daze is one of the heavier tracks, though not as heavy as anything from Core or Purple, but enough to feel like it has some urgency. Cinnamon, First Kiss on Mars and Maver are sugary ballads that feel like they are straight out of the nineties. One of the bonus tracks Samba Nova is a similar lounge-style song to their earlier track And So I Know.

Stone Temple Pilots play it quite safe with their self-titled album and the tracklist feels a little out of time in 2010, but it’s still a guilty pleasure of mine that I found more enjoyable than their last couple of records.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Stone Temple Pilots on Discogs.

Back to the 2010 Album Guide or the Stone Temple Pilots Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard