CHances are, you have seen the STAIND video for "Outside" all over MTV... You know, the one where Fred Durst never shuts the fuck up while Aaron Lewis is playing the song Acoustically?.. Oh, and might I add singing off-key when he's supposed to be singing harmony vocal. Fred, keep your fucking mouth shut.
OK, now that that's out out of the way, I can tell you how cool Staind is.
Hot off the heels of their Elektra debut, Dysfucnction, a ton of Boston Music Awards, tours with Kid Rock, Monster Magnet, Sevendust, Limp Bizkit and Korn, not to mention a breakout performance on the last Family Values Tour, STAIND returns with Break The Cycle, which showcases the band's ability to kick your teeth down your throat with one track, and then cry your eyes out on the next track. Case and point: The song "It's been a while" is a showcase in Aaron Lewis's growth as a person over the past few years, where he reflects on all of the things that he (and we as a whole) probably should do more often; make a phone call, say you're sorry, feel good about yourself. That's a lot of wisdom for 28 years old.
Songs like "Waste", which is about a fan who committed suicide, and "Can't Believe", what is probably their heaviset track to date really give the impression that this band has enough to say, and enough different ways to say it, that they'll be around...for a while.
