Stone Temple Pilots

After spending the last nine years feuding with his former bandmates, getting fired from super-group Velvet Revolver for (allegedly) taking far too many drugs and generally behaving like the Amy Winehouse of grunge (big voice, but even bigger appetite for self-destruction) Scott Weiland has returned to where it all began for Stone Temple Pilots’ swaggering reunion record. And you know what? It’s pretty good actually. Abandoning the maudlin themes that dogged other grunge groups in the past, their sixth album is an homage to ‘70s era American hard rock and struts and preens with the best of them.
What makes Stone Temple Pilots a great record, though, is the fact that they’re thrown in some surprisingly welcome country elements into the cock rock mix (‘Hickory Dichotomy’) and they’ve once again managed to stretch their sound beyond the realms of the genre that spawned them. Beatles-ish melodies (‘Dare If You Dare’) nuzzle up beside Aerosmith-esque riffage (‘Between The Lines’) creating one of the most enjoyable releases in STP’s much storied career. Clearly absence really does make the heart grow fonder.