Stone Sour Delivers More Skull Splitting Metal Mayhem From Their Comfort of Their Add-On "House"

Beautiful minds excite me. I love articulate people. Gene Hackman, Tom Hanks, Rolling Stone magazine's Rob Sheffield, Robin Roberts. I get all tingly at the prospect that people like these open their mouths and potentially brilliant pearls of wisdom come sliding out. In the metal community craft tends to triumph over the sense that when you put on a metal CD you're dealing with a bunch of guys who could string several sentences together on topics great and small. For instance James Hetfield, Metallica's frontman, knows his way around the metal turf, but he has this rep, deserved or not, of not being the sharpest knife in the drawer. It's his easily detectable rage that draws crowds to Metallica shows. Corey Taylor, vocalist for both Slipknot and Stone Sour, impresses me more and more with what comes flying out of his lyrical toolbox. He sees possibilities the way a pair of first time homeowners sees possibilities in the bare bones property they just signed off on. I could fill this space waxing eloquent on just how deep Corey really is but not only would that make me sound like a young groupie whose having his baby, it wouldn't present the full scope of Stone Sour's brilliance. "House of Gold and Bones Part 2" is detonated heartstrings times 12. "Sadist" will leave icicles hanging off your lungs. If this is the aftermath of a nuclear war I'd advise the powers that be to think long and hard before becoming too contentious with each other. Roy Mayorga dials back his drumming as if astute enough to realize we've just entered a sickeningly lifeless new world and he doesn't need to hammer the concepts into our skulls. The fangs we've come to appreciate from these denizens of the metal universe are still there. Still, subtlety strikes a real chord in this case. With "Peckinpah" we get the first of Corey's enlightened proclamations, the sort of thing that the more intelligent amongst us take for granted. "There's a knowledge that comes with being arrogant." How boldly deep I say, and a point of contention not hammered home often enough. One of the common threads throughout "House" is how skillfully the band spins intricate webs which shift from empowered definition of self to the uneasy sense of knowing how much one is enduring the weight of being merely a number in a larger game. Moving right along to "Stalemate", it's Corey's inner torment which ignites this inferno. "My mind is a terrible gift. I'd rather be numb than feel this way." On this track Roy's drumming flips into speed demon mode at the midway point. Corey spells out his discomfort. Roy drops in the blow by blow. Guitarists James Root and Josh Rand leave first gear back at the studio. Not a moment of holding back on the drama. Never fails to amaze me watching the convoluted twists the tag team thrashers orchestrate. Test their pee, I say . Puny humans shouldn't be able to pull off these stunts. "82" continues Corey's theme of being chained to a circumstance he didn't desire but is now forced to make the best of anyway. "It'll be my time once I get away from here." It's worthy of mention that by and large Corey doesn't stoop to the dreaded dirty "Cookie Monster" vocals as a means of injecting fear into our spines. At times the insane guy is the most brilliant guy in the room. Corey stuns, impresses, and even coerces audiences into seeing his point of view simply by flashing the power of his cranium. His vocals are aggressive but never impaired by the tendency to oversell people on how macho he believes he is. Acoustic guitars are added to the menu for "'The Uncanny Valley" and, given what Corey's reflections are this time, it makes the arguments he's positing that much harder to throw stones at. "When does your karma disarm your explosive demeanor?" Good question and there's no pat answer, is there? "Cherry Pie" this isn't. Tits and ass commentary is gone. Bubbling discontentment has risen up to replace it. "Do Me a Favor" throws higher power morality into the mix. Fist hoisting metal thunder with contemplative morality musings added for an extra bite. Maybe it's the wordsmith in me but I can't help but cop and ear to ear grin at sentiments such as: "Your behavior is the reason there is no savior." No Cookie Monster. Only Corey the monstrous. I do admire a man who knows he's smart and sees sharing his innermost impressions as an honorable mission. This ecstasy inspiring musical mini franchise wraps up as any intellectual tour-de-force should...with a downward spiral of increasingly foreboding chord shifts. Roy goes to rabid dog growl mode behind the kit. Once again, the glue that holds this scrapbook of scintillating sound together is Corey who takes us on more journeys in under an hour than we're likely to participate in all year. "House of Gold and Bones Part 2", from top to bottom is a masterstroke of human innovation. Once you've spent time at  this house, you'll be hard pressed to want to say goodbye to the yarn spinners who've inspired your global perspective to do a complete 180.