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Hellyeah: Stampede

Average rating points:



Release Date: July 13th, 2010
Record Label: Epic


1. By Tyler Crooks

My rating points:


    Track Listing:
  1. Cowboy Way
  2. Debt That All Men Pay
  3. Hell Of A Time
  4. Stampede
  5. Better Man
  6. It's On!
  7. Pole Rider
  8. Cold As A Stone
  9. Stand Or Walk Away
  10. Alive And Well
  11. Order The Sun

"Stampede" is the second album from heavy metal super group Hellyeah. The band consists of Chad Gray on vocals, Greg Tribbett on guitar, Tom Maxwell on guitar, Bob Zilla on bass, and Vinnie Paul on drums.

The album opens with the no-bullshit track "Cowboy Way", which, is obviously about the life of a modern day cowboy. The track begins with an interesting riff; simplistic, yet heavy. Everyone on this track is on the ball with their instrumentation. Everything is fresh and hard. My only problem with this track is that it doesn't really seem to go anywhere, musically speaking. The only variation you really get is a short breakdown followed by an incredibly short-lived solo. The guitars sound like they're in some kind of drop tuning, played mostly with open strings; a little lazy, but still pretty great. The bass is buried pretty deep under everything, but it's still somewhat audible. Chad Gray's vocals are incredibly powerful on this track; perfectly suited for this particular band. The drums, of course, are the crowning instrument on this track, keeping everything in time and heavy as hell. While I wish this song had a bit more substance and variation to it, it's a great track to open the album with.

The next track, "The Debt That All Men Pay" is where the album really picks up and gets heavier. It opens with a hard riff, followed by Vinnie's drumming. While the song is heavy, it's a bit slower than I would expect. The riffs seem very transparent, but are played in a way that makes them work. Bob's bass is great on this track; very thick, heavy, and creamy. Chad shows off his vocal range a bit more on this track, and sings in a cleaner fashion on small parts of the track. This is another song that features a short breakdown. There are some subtle nuances on the track that might be overlooked, like small overlapped guitar pieces, but you can hear them pretty well if you listen hard enough. This track is really nothing extraordinary, but it's a pretty good track with a lot of energy.

The single track "Hell of a Time" is where the album turns in an odd direction. It's an interesting track, which begins as a country song, and transitions into a harder metal song. This song is interesting in the fact that it incorporates steel guitar in a metal song, but other than that, it falls a bit short of what it could have been. It could have been far more emotional and soulful, but it's really not that great. It doesn't leave much to write about, but you'll know what I mean when you listen to it.

This album had the potential to be really great, but the overall musicianship on it leaves me a bit disappointed. Everything sounds very run-of-the-mill, and very bland. The musicianship is good, but it's not all there, and everything just seems to run together after a few tracks. Seeing as how Hellyeah is still in an infantile stage of their career, they have a long way to go in terms of writing really memorable music, something that won't be found on this album. This album probably appeals to the more diehard fans of Hellyeah, but if you don't fall into that category, I wouldn't recommend it. I give this album a 5.5/10.

2. By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal

My rating points:

Expectations are always high when it comes to a supergroup like Hellyeah, because unlike any regular band out there, supergroups attract attention from fans of the respective bands the members belong to and when names like Pantera, Damageplan, Mudvayne and Nothingface are thrown in together, one can only imagine the hype. Having said that, Hellyeah had a moderately successful self-titled debut three years back, and now they're back with their sophomore effort 'Stampede'. I was curious to find out whether the band offers anything different with this release. Well, lets see if they did!

The album starts off in typical Hellyeah style; down-tuned, distorted guitar riffs, mid-range vocals and an overall mid-tempo feel to the song 'Cowboy Way'. The lyrics are really easy to pick up and sing along with. This has all the makings of a good live song. 'Debt That All Men Pay' continues along a pretty similar vein and sounds more like a continuation of the opening track, not really having much of an identity of its own. The tempo drops down for the first time with 'Hell Of A Time', which isn't a bad thing at all.

The guitar solo that decorates the title track 'Stampede', although incredibly short, is probably the single most likeable aspect of the song and is one of the better pieces of guitar play on the entire album. Talking of good guitar play, 'Better Man' has its acoustic fills that are easy on the ears but on the whole, the music on this one sounds more like a Nickelback mixed with Mudvayne kind of song. Just when I thought the album is starting to give the listener some variety, it's back to the down-tuned, distorted guitar riffs and the mid-tempo with the following track 'It's On!'

'Pole Rider' is another song that just drifts away from the listener's mind without grabbing attention, except perhaps for the semblance of the guitar solo that exists in it. 'Cold As A Stone' could well have been the best song on the album at least music-wise, but I feel the excessive use of the down-tuned riffs chugging away along with the solo takes away from its beauty and impact. There is nothing lyric-wise, at all. "Cold as a stone, broken like a bone" is pretty much all you hear, but then this is supposed to be "cowboy metal" so you can't expect incredibly intense lyrics anyway. 'Stand or Walk Away' has depth in the music and is worthy of a repeated listen, things that can't be said about too many other songs here. It's beautifully done, right from the acoustic intro through the interlude, all the way to the heavily pounding drums towards the end.

As good as the previous track was, 'Alive And Well' really makes you feel like the album finally 'woke up'. There's energy aplenty in the vocals as well as the instruments. But, the closing track 'Order The Sun' is a major letdown compared to the previous two. Any album should always end on a note that leaves the listener gasping for more, and may be even go back to track 1 and listen all over again. I'm afraid Hellyeah didn't choose a good closing tune for this particular effort.

Overall, I would recommend 'Cowboy Way', 'Better Man' and 'Stand Or Walk Away' as the best songs on Hellyeah's sophomore effort and among the others, 'Hell Of A Time', 'Cold As A Stone' and 'Alive And Well' have the potential to grow on the listener. The album won't strike you as an outstanding one at first listen, but I think you'd find yourself grow fond of quite a few of the songs, the ones I mentioned just now.

Hellyeah's Stampede is definitely better than the band's debut effort. Because of the abundance of acoustic fills along with the signature hard rock tunes, this is the kind that would go well along with a drive through the countryside as well as at a house party with a few cold ones down the pipe.

To buy the CD and for more information, check out their official website.

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