Stone Temple Pilots
"Stone Temple Pilots"

Sixth album by the band, a full nine years after "Shangri-la Dee Da," a long wait but not to be confused with a lack of musical production.

While the DeLeo brothers performed with the interesting and worth rediscovering Army Of Anyone, the restless, troubled but also driving soul of the group, the genius Scott Weiland, despite all his problems, including legal ones related to drug addiction, never stopped producing records in the 2000s, before his recent dramatic passing: from the two works with the overrated Velvet Revolver to his solo efforts (including a "Christmas" album).

Although this self-titled work is not their best, it once again serves to make us understand that the four bad boys were destined to play together to bring out the best in themselves as a band.

Weiland's sticky melodies made of sugar, honey, and lots of "brains" are made to go hand in hand with the riffs of the Los Angeles brothers.

Compared to the past, one can notice the almost absence of true leading singles, except for the last sweet and melancholic ballad "Maver," a true gem of the album that will literally make you fly with your imagination among the clouds.

But the convincing moments are always just around the corner, whether when the dances start with the first single "Between The Lines," with a direct chorus, offspring of Nirvana imprinted deeply, or with the clear references to Aerosmith's "Toys In The Attic" era in the rock-blues of "Huckleberry Crumble."

Often in these grooves, it is possible to hear the shaman Weiland chant incomprehensible or content-void lyrics (see the pop-induced "Cinnamon"), the same shaman who forces you to read between the lines and catch various references to his whimsical life ("Between The Lines"), thinking you have understood something when the next verse leaves you empty-handed. But the music we have come to know through their six albums has always had this characteristic and charm, if you will.