In the league of post grunge alternative/metal, the late 90`s threw
up worldbeaters like Creed, Nickelback and the less successful 3
Doors Down. The sort of music which these bands play is based on
a very simple formula of mixing grunge infused melodies with the
dynamic variations of speed metal, and what you end up with is
the sound which these bands popularised. Nickelback`s musical
influences are a little less kocha than most of their contemp-
oraries, lead singer Chad Kroeger sights country music as also
having a big impact on the sound which the band has developed,
songs like `Photograph`, a big hit single for the band from 2005,
proves the country music connection. 3 Doors Down never matched
the enthusiasm and raw power of their debut, an album that threw
up the hard rock classic `Kryptonite`, a song tailor made for a
Superman soundtrack obviously. 3 Doors Down have gone soft
of late and have resorted to ballads where Nickelback have pre-
ferred to just go acoustic on occasions, but not losing any of
their lyrical impact. Regardless of Chad Kroeger`s percieved
childishness and sexist attitude, he really is one hell of a
good lyricist, he knows how to push all the boundaries and
write songs about bonking girls on the back seat of a car
ect. but the girls still love the guy, go to any Nickelback
concert and you will see a lot of girls there. For the few
women out there who think Kroeger is a sexist pig, he has
millions of others who are lapping up his lyrical sexual
imagery and loving him. I got to say that Kroeger is also
one mean and often talented rhythm guitar player, he learnt
a lot off Pantera`s slain former guitarist Dimebag Darrell
and fellas like James Hetfield and Sammy Hagar. One band
which i haven`t mentioned yet is another post grunge metal
band from the south of the US like Creed and 3 Doors Down
called EVANESCENCE. The band might not be a lost treasure
just yet but it is heading that way. Their highly successful
album `Fallen` from 2003, which met with mixed critical
reviews, is a very innovative post grunge metal affair for
the most part, and it threw up the classical piano heart-
tugger `My Immortal`, which featured a mesmerizing and
emotional performance on piano by the normally guitar
shredding Ben Moody. Lead singer Amy Lee, famous for
her swampy gothic looks and pierced tongue, put in a
spinetingling display on vocals for this quirky diversion
from the bands recognised style. The song has now been
covered by numerous crooners and opera singers the world
over, the problem for EVANESCENCE is that the song stero-
typed them to such an extent that no one really cares too
much about their other output. A bit like Eagle Rock syn-
drome for Ross Wilson, the same principle. After the com-
mercial success of `Fallen`, the band basically disinte-
grated when the drug addictions of guitarist and chief
songwriter Ben Moody caught up with him and the rest of
the band, they have released a follow up album, maybe
two but i`d have to check, but the momentum was total-
ly lost and the band is now marginalised as being the
post grunge heavy metal band who wrote that classi-
cal piece called `My Immortal`. Lovely song, diffrent,
Amy Lee is even a bit out of tune in a few places but
it has an amazing atmosphere. Equally creepy and in-
spiring. Perhaps it would have been a better idea if
EVANESCENCE would have recorded the song on album
number 3 or 4, it was a gamble putting such an ex-
perimental song on album no. 1, but maybe the band
members knew the writing was on the wall and thought
they might not be around that long to record it. In the
same spirit of Nickelback and Creed, the album as a whole,
and not just the wonderful `My Immortal` is up there in
the top 10 albums of all time in the post- grunge metal
genre. One band which proves debuts are often the best.
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