Staind
Break the Cycle

We are in 2009, ladies and gentlemen.
So why is this madman reviewing an album from 2001 tonight?

Because this album saved my life.

We are in 2001, and in Springfield, Massachusetts everything apparently sucks.
I can't explain otherwise how these four young guys, known as Staind, discovered by the ever-watchful frontman of Limp Bizkit, after having smashed everything with the previous "Dysfunction," a stunning but raw snapshot of urban anger, managed to deliver the DEFINITIVE post-grunge album.

That's right my friends, "Break The Cycle" is THE post-grunge album.
Such a platter hasn't been heard since the days of "Dirt" by the ever-mourned Alice In Chains, you put it in the player (at this point MP3, I'd say) and as you press play, a sea of steaming shit flies in your face, and you like it.

Discomfort is the first word that comes to mind when listening to something oppressive like "Open Your Eyes," which opens the lot, when the chorus explodes you feel almost relieved, thinking you've made it, but you haven't understood a damn thing about what awaits you, so they start to flow into your ears like rivers of blood gushing from your wrists, pieces like "Fade," "Pressure," then "It's Been Awhile" comes and you start to realize that you are really in deep shit.
A perfect single, catchy, enjoyable, well-sung, well-played, and when it ends, you realize you're on your fourth cigarette.
Then it starts again with "Change" and the confused guitars of Mike Mushok come back, guitars tuned underground, simple and granite riffs, stuff that makes the floor tremble in the right stereo, just like "Can't Believe."

Here, if we want, "Epiphany" is the weak point of the album, and it's right in the middle, out of context it would still be an enjoyable acoustic strumming, but it's way too sweet for the tones of this album, there is no room for hope, only suffering, as the subsequent "Suffer" testifies, at this point if you haven't pressed stop yet and still want this stuff, you should start asking yourself some questions...
It means you're identifying with this suffering, it means that Aaron Lewis's wonderful voice is entering your veins directly from the skin.

We are offered a little respite with "Warm Safe Place", hahahaha, I feel like laughing, it's just a pious illusion.

You're about to be annihilated by "For You" which leaves no handhold to cling to, by now you're lost, the only guide in the darkness is his voice, expressive like few others on the scene, unravelling simple, yet not predictable melodies, a trademark of this album.
Then "Outside" begins, and you start reflecting on yourself, your fears, the shit you have inside, your insecurities come out, yet once more you can't stop, you're captivated.

"Waste" flows freely, and "Take It" arrives, where once again Mushok takes the lead with his Ibanez, pacing the piece, showing you the way to oblivion, and you follow it because by now you're in it.
They also give us a treat, a live version of "Outside" where we find their Talent Scout, Fred Dust, as a guest, a very intimate moment of the album, even if it doesn't add much to the discourse, it's just something extra.

I believe that if "Break The Cycle" hadn't come out, by now I would be praising the most extreme Black Metal or worse, I'd be miserably powdered in some trendy House club in Milan...
Joking aside, this is a vastly underrated album, it has EVERYTHING, power, melancholy, suffering, melody in abundance, commercial appeal, and even a hint of originality compared to the clichés of the genre, a detail not to be underestimated.

I've always listened to it, cyclically I pull it out, listen again, suffer again like the first day, because the power of this music is timeless.
Maybe if you didn't experience it at release like me, or like others won't feel it as yours, but it sounds fresh today as it did in 2001, because our problems are always the same, after all we are all children of the '90s, after all we are all an unworthy generation, without legacy, despised by the older ones because considered without values, considered old by the younger ones because we don't care about trends and consumerism.

If you can, come back to suffer occasionally with this album, you will feel free again.