Here and Now / Nickelback (2011)

1. This Means War

2. Bottoms Up

3. When We Stand Together

4. Midnight Queen

5. Gotta Get Me Some

6. Lullaby

7. Kiss It Goodbye

8. Trying Not to Love You

9. Holding On to Heaven

10. Everything I Wanna Do

11. Don't Let It End

Their last album was one of the greatest discovery that I did in recent music scene. This band is one of few riff oriented bands. From track 1, they knocked me hard with powerful riffs. I got goose bumps when I heard the intro of the song. This will be another rock anthem at their shows. Their last album had great sound production, but this one had even much stronger sound pressure. The sound attacks you like flooding water. 

Track 2 was released as a rock single, track 3 was a pop single. One thing I like about his band is that they deliver political or social messages in their songs. The album consists of great ballads as well (Tracks 6, 8, 11). Especially, track 6 is an excellent piece! This has the same mood of "Save Me". Like the last album, the sound production is very heavy but does not make you feel the heaviness because every song has good catchy melody. Every song has a good sing-along chorus that would excite audiences. Any song in this album can be a repertory at their shows.

The monster rock band on 21st century has come back stronger than ever. This album will be another milestone for their career. I can feel their great presence as a today's arena rock band from the songs.

☆☆☆☆☆

Dark Horse / Nickelback (2008)

1. Something In Your Mouth

2. Burn It To The Ground

3. Gotta Be Somebody

4. I'd Come For You

5. Next Go Round

6. Just To Get High

7. Never Gonna Be Alone

8. Shakin' Hands

9. S.E.X.

10. If Today Was Your Last Day

11. This Afternoon

I knew this band for a long time, but I never bought their album. I knew they were very famous. Some of my friends recommended me this band, and I tried to listen to some of there songs but was not attracted by them. I don't remember all of the songs that I listened. But, I know that I listened to "How You Remind Me" and "Hero". I thought they were cool songs but did not make me buy album until I heard track 3 of this album. When I heard that for the first time, I just posed for a moment. The sound was pretty heavy. Well, I want to call it massive. The sound production was massive, but the song really took my attention. That was the "first" time that I met this band. Now, I have their past catalogues as well, but this album was the first album I bought.

As I mentioned before, this album is massive. The sound production is really big. When I saw the producer's name, it made sense. The producer of this album was Mutt Lange who was known for producing Def Leppard and AC/DC. He is the one who produced the "big sound" of Def Leppard. He did a great job on this album as well. The sound production is "massive" and "big". Nevertheless, the essence which makes this band unique is melody. Melody lines are sometimes powerful, lyrical, sad, moving, and catchy. The music ranges from heavy rock/metal to reggae. The variety is another reason that makes this band different from other heavy rock/metal band.

I don't get attracted by most of the recent rock bands. Because many of them are not riff-oriented. Maybe that bothers me a lot because I play the guitar. Great rock bands always came up with great riffs. One thing really made me excited about this album was that it contained many cool riffs. I can see they are pretty talented as musicians and composers.

I also like lyrics of some songs such as 7 & 10. They write many songs that make you think about life and and important things in our lives. Some musician sing just party songs and cheap love songs (which these guys also do often lol), but this band has opinions and messages to speak up to the world. I really like bands that write songs with good messages. This album was an excellent discovery for me.

☆☆☆☆☆