Candlebox's return to the radio is obviously nothing more than a quick cash in to pay the bills. The whole album sounds phoned in and many of the tracks reach new heights of cheesiness that Candlebox had never achieved before. Where older albums sounded like carbon copies of peers like Stone Temple Pilots (who some would argue were themselves carbon copies of Alice In Chains, who copied Pearl Jam), Into the Sun is just a rehash of those carbon copies. If you're doing the math, that's a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy, or Copy X 10(4)
but don't be concerned with those numbers, because the only math Candlebox was doing was figuring out how much cash a radio hit would make for them. The first couple of songs, "Stand" and "Bitches Brewin'" are interesting enough, particularly the arpeggios that outline the first track. But as the album winds on, you can't escape the observation that everything on here has been done by at least one grunge band and even individual songs taken one at a time are difficult to listen to beyond the front-loaded opening. Both "Stand" and "How Does it Feel" steal a bit of the solo from their hit "Far Behind" you'll know it when you hear it and even though that solo certainly is their finest hour, I'd consider one blatant self-rip-off to be ridiculous, let alone two on a single album.
The closer "Consider Us" tries to take a different approach by leading with a piano part, and it does succeed in closing the album reflectively and pushing off a little bit from the standard grunge formula. But right at 2:41 when the rest of the instruments come in and the vocals are as Axl Rose as possible, you discover the possible motive for this album: Inspired by the possible [inevitable] surfacing of Guns 'N Roses' Chinese Democracy, Candlebox set out to make their own. The only difference is that absolutely nobody cares about Candlebox, but for what it's worth these songs would sound perfect as background music in a strip club, and so will Chinese Democracy. Success?
Besides writing the exact same song over and over, which seems to be working for Nickelback, another surefire way to spike your album's sales is to slap a Parental Advisory Explicit Content sticker on there. That way, everybody will know that you're still hard as s*** and a little time off hasn't taken away any of your angst. The official title of the promo I was sent was Into the Sun Explicit Version. It's a very big deal. But the swears are so deliberately stacked into a single song ("Bitches Brewin'") that it was obviously an afterthought: "Oh, we need some swears." When 'motherf***in', 's***', and 'bitch' fly by in about four seconds, there's really no other explanation. Looks like "Hot Dog" by Limp Bizkit is no longer the stupidest song I've ever heard. Well, it is, but still
. Into the Sun sucks.
For Fans Of: The year 1994, Guns 'N Roses, unremarkable bar bands who know how to play the guitar solo from "Far Behind" by Candlebox
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