Staind
Break The Cycle

"Hey Mr. Durst, now it’s our turn!"

This was the phrase that the magazine 'Tutto' used to highlight how Staind had all the right cards to steal the scene from the band of their producer and discoverer, Fred Durst.

As predicted by the magazine, the shift in power did indeed happen, more precisely in 2001, after the release of "Break The Cycle."

How did this CD, a mix of sadness and metal, manage to sell 5 million copies in 3 months just in the States?

Some even suggested that the album overturned the charts mainly due to the post 9/11 pessimism, not admitting that the band’s work was excellent and that the CD is of quality, even if composed of a mix of melancholy, nostalgia, chronic pessimism, and a massive desire for self-harm.

After the debut single "It's Been Awhile", the rock community was divided in half, with some claiming it was just another 'made in MTV' product, while others were hopeful, those who believed quality is indeed present; all that was left was to listen to the album.

Obviously, this is not a CD to listen to while doing something else, rather it’s a record to discover, understand, and analyze.

After a good but not excellent start, we find "Fade", a sad track, like the entire album, engaging, not irresistible but well-crafted, with a heart-wrenching chorus and light yet constant drumming.

The fourth track is "It's Been Awhile", a song dedicated to a lost love. Without a glimmer of light, the beautiful chord progression and the warm and raspy voice of vocalist Aaron Lewis are paired with a dramatically pessimistic lyric.

What comes out is a "winning" single, ironically the last characteristic of Lewis’s troubled life.

"Change" is a beautiful piece, transformed into a funeral mass due to the participation of the "burping" voice of Jonathan Davis from Korn.

The album seems to flow quite pleasantly, the series of screams and mediocre sonic belches from the aforementioned Davis in "Can't Believe" are exaggerated and inappropriate, the leader of Korn seems possessed and Lewis accompanies him with a macabre "Can't believe" in an orgy of sadness and torment.

The calm returns in the very sweet "Epiphany", Lewis gives space to his "boy inside", probably referring to how he experienced Epiphany as a kid, analyzing it in a clearly negative way; the melody is gentle and very catchy.

Davis returns in "Suffer", here too much melancholy, but the base is excellent, the band (especially the guitarist Mushok) demonstrates the ability to invent and explore.

The listening starts to get heavy, luckily the beautiful "For You" revives the atmosphere, don’t expect screams of joy and a cheerful climate, rather Lewis is colder than ever, but the song is structured in such a way that it makes the listening very pleasant for both Metal fans and Brit enthusiasts. In my opinion, one of Staind’s most beautiful pieces and one of the Best Rock of 2002.

The album closes with the dormant "Outside", light and acoustically leveled. The video depicts the band at the Family Values Tour of 2000; hundreds of lighters were waved, and Lewis, together with Fred Durst, his tour companion and producer, decided to record it all and make it the official video of the piece.

What needs to be highlighted about the album is the communication aspect, in my opinion, the band somewhat exaggerated in the construction of the album’s base, too clearly choosing the path of self-harm, refusing any form of optimism and reaction, making the work even seem fake, created exclusively to feed the ever-hungry teenage pessimism.

It’s a warm album in its coldness, I don’t deny that dedicating an hour solely to listening to the CD means risking morally self-destructing!

Millions and millions of copies sold, born from the excellent sound level or Lewisian pessimism? Both factors somewhat contributed to the album’s success.

Best listened to preferably during a cold, gray, and dark winter evening.