Metal? Nickelback?
That’s what some said when the lead-off track from this ‘Get Rollin’ album (note that lack of a G) came out. It was tougher than expected from Nickelback, the churning riffs and vocal take sounded like a baby Metallica. As Louder said;
‘Nickelback have finally released that ‘heavy’ new song everyone’s been talking about – listen to San Quentin now.’
That’s not like Nickelback, is it?
They’re supposed to be a radio-ready, super-successful Rock band that people either love or love to hate, there’s very little middle ground with Nickelback.
So, are we having a bullet-belt-wearing, circle-pit-developing album?
The Album | Get Rollin | Nickelback
No, we aren’t. What we do get is something on the way to that but something eminently safer.
Black Stone Cherry.
And early Black Stone Cherry too, ‘Blame It On The Boom Boom’ Black Stone Cherry, when they were better (some say). There are quite a lot of choruses here which soar in a Southern Rock and Country Metal way – there’s nothing wrong with that.
That radio-ready chorus in ‘Steel Still Rusts’ is still huge, the riff rushing around as if to tell you how urgent this is all through the middle of ‘Just One More’, whilst there’s even a little Pop in ‘Those Days’, leavened by a little Country.
Where’s The Metal We Were Promised, Then?
Well, there is some Aerosmith sway roughed up by the solo in ‘Vegas Bomb’ and ‘High Time’ hardens up around a thick backing that the Cadillac Three might nod assent at.
But that’s it, really. ‘San Quentin’ is a bit special really, it has widescreen Rock importance with a chorus that sticks around for hours.
Which is why faceless Country Hard Rock like ‘Horizon’ withers in its shadow.
Locked In ‘San Quentin’
Nickelback are locked in on this album. The song came out early, gained admiring column inches and allowed that rumour.
Nickelback were never going to deliver on that, they know what they’re doing and they do it very well.
‘But consider it impartially for a moment – hating a band purely because they’re massively successful probably says more about you than them. Theirs are songs, don’t forget, that millions of rock fans enjoyed.’
Kerrang are, of course, correct. After all, 50 million albums sold worldwide can’t really be argued at.
Well, they can, but what would be the point? ‘Get Rollin’ sounds like a biker album, just with the stabilisers on.