Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2010

Courtesy of Warner

Soundgarden is on the road and Stone Temple Pilots have a new album out… what year is it again? And is this something we needed, or is it just being inflicted on us because the bands are broke? If Soundgarden’s darkness and off-kilter rhythms represented the creative side of grunge, STP were known more for the glammy, substance-abusing, rock-god pretensions of singer Scott Weiland. His legendary appetites are a topic that he grabs by the horns on the title track of the band’s first album since 2001. Is Weiland having us on with lyrics like “You always were my favorite drug/Even when we used to take drugs”? Hard to know, but when the riffs are as limp and stale as they are on “Between the Lines” or “Huckleberry Crumble,” it really doesn’t matter what the man is singing. The saddest part is that STP did in fact have their moments; unfortunately, none of them are relived here.