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Rating:
I am about to review a band of which I've always only owned this album, and which I have never followed enough. At the time, I quite liked the record, and I must admit that I still listen to it with pleasure, even though my tastes have changed since that 2005 when it was released and I bought it. The band is Cold, an American group of postgrunge - nu-metal background, and the album in question is "A Different Kind Of Pain." Note, I said "of background," because if you’re looking for those two genres, you won't find them here at all. What you will find, however, is good technique, style, some good tracks, some big ballads, fragments of hearts forgotten between some grooves of the CD and good rock with radio-friendly metal hues. Don't get me wrong, the album isn't terrible; it lands just above average, but as I said, it's very pleasant.
Let’s consider, for example, "Feel It In Your Heart": sometimes it feels like listening to Nickelback (and for me that is already generally horrifying), yet the song flows well. It's a semi-bittersweet ballad with metal guitars underscoring a good chorus, with the singer Scooter Ward’s voice rich in pathos and intensity.
"Anathomy Of A Tidal Wave" is definitely one of the catchier highlights of the record, with a chorus that you'll surely hum along to after just one listen. In contrast, the title track is an intense ballad built around a good piano section, where the singer lays out all his emotions and pain. It really feels like a hug in the rain after a fight with the person you love, a pat on the back from a friend who comes to you when you least expect it, like finding a photo from your childhood in an unsightly, typically eighties album cover. I know these are clichés, but still, this track touches something, it's undeniable.
On a completely different note are "When Heaven's Not Far Away", "God's Song", "When Angels Fly Away", and "Ocean". Here the band, although making very catchy and immediate tracks, brings out a hint of musical fierceness, translating into a more metallic presence and some slightly more substantial and rocky passages. Among the four mentioned, I’d particularly highlight the concluding track "Ocean", where everything fits well: the voice is modulated in different ways conveying a decent range of emotions, the rhythm section is very punctual and present, and the melody is highly focused on simple and effective choruses.
For those who know Cold well, this album might be a definite step back, where the band has sold out to the market, giving in to easy catchy melodies and "tearjerker" ballads. From my perspective as someone who didn’t know them, and I repeat, practically still doesn’t, the album instead stands at a good seven: it has the cards in play to please most, the band undeniably knows how to play, and I find nothing wrong with becoming a bit more accessible. Of course, if bands I worship did this, maybe I would wrinkle my nose, but since I am somewhat of a novice with this band, the move has convinced me quite well. There is no growl, no screamo, no shouted anger, nor roaring riffs, but only the desire to craft a good product with a decent slice of heart inside.
Tracklist and Lyrics
04 A Different Kind of Pain (05:19)
Before I let you go
Give me just one more night to show you
Just how I feel
I lost all my control
If it takes my whole damnned life I'll
Make this up to you
Im kinda like the waves that roll their whole life
Towards somewhere crashing it on the shore
Thats blown in by the wind that carries the clouds
To hide my wish on a fallen star
A differnt kind of pain, is someone there to hold you
Is someone there to take you away from me
I tried to let you go
I wish I could turn back time and show
You just how I feel
I needed you to know
If it takes my whole damned life I'll
Make this up to you
Before you let me go, I needed you to know
05 Another Pill (03:45)
You're all the same; you lose, you win
Your mystery hides all your feelings
You're on your way to medicate
No one to hold; no one to sing
Take another pill for love
Let it open up your mind to
Be free again
Think of everyone you've lost
Let them open up your heart to
Complete yourself
You're all alone, with broken wings
Your life hinges on your direction
Look to the stars to medicate
Listen to hear the whole world sing
Take another pill for love
Let it open up your mind to
Be free again
Think of everyone you've lost
Let them open up your heart to
Complete yourself
The world to hold (Live again)
The world to sing (Live again)
The world to hold (Live again)
The world to sing
Take another pill for love
Let it open up your mind to
Be free again
Think of everyone you've lost
Let them open up your heart to
Complete yourself
The world to hold (Live again)
The world to sing (Live again)
The world to hold
Live again...
06 Happens All the Time (03:28)
I still hang on every word
in the world of faded memories
where your still in love with me
I can see it in your eyes
you look as if your major Tom has lost control
I must hold on
This happens all the time
I still find my faith in you
I cant hold on
this happens all the time
I still find my way to you
If a dreams all that I've got
then I wish your in a fairy tale
where your still in love with me
I could see it in your eyes
the look as if your hero fell and lost his soul
I must hold on
This happens all the time
I still find my faith in you
I cant hold on
this happens all the time
I still find my way to you...
To you...
To you...
To you...
I must hold on
This happens all the time
I still find my faith in you
I cant hold on
this happens all the time
I still find my way to you
11 Ocean (03:48)
If the wind could bring the rain
I would save it all for you
Make an ocean to sail away and begin again
They said I could never change
That I cant belong to you
Than I watched you sip away in the oceans arms
I'll never get you back.
Its like fallin down a wave,
Fallin down a wave
If a star could light the way
That could take me back to you
And the rain could wash away
Everything I've done
Only melody remains
So I sing my song to you
As I watched you slip away in the oceans arms
I will never get you back
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