Out today (June 30) is “Hydrograd,” the sixth studio album and first in four years by Stone Sour.
The 15-track, 65-minute-long album has been getting plenty of attention for its sound, which is more mainstream hard rock than its predecessors and not a thematic piece like the group’s two-part “House Of Gold & Bones” project.
Frontman Corey Taylor tells us that the group had no overreaching goal for “Hydrograd:”
“We just wanted to make a feel-good album. We just wanted to make one of those throwback albums you just put on. There doesn’t have to be an overall message. It doesn’t have to be an overall statement…We just wanted to make a good, kick-ass hard rock album that takes you anywhere you want to go. You can put it on while you’re driving. You can put it on while you’re working, put it on while you’re at the gym. YOU can put it on when you’re hanging out. You just put it on. It’s like the classic rock playlist, like you put together a rock playlist because you want to hear these songs together. That’s what we did with this album, and it feels awesome.”
Stone Stour is currently on the road with Korn in North America, and Taylor’s promotion for “Hydrograd” has included some verbal shots at Nickelback and specifically its frontman Chad Kroeger. So we asked Taylor for a new volley in the beef, but he said that,
“I am not going to talk about him today. I have sworn that off because everyone’s just ripping me to shreds and I’m…trying not to talk about it. I don’t know how much more I can do…Everybody just loves to turn everything that I say into…clickbait. I mean, what are you gonna do?”
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.