Silver Side Up - Nickelback

...brought them, however I think Silver Side Up will soon be one of my favourites, it's so raw and just a brilliant album.

Compared to other albums, if I remember rightly this is a fantastic album, it is a 100times better than their most recent try, Dark Horse, which had a few good songs, but just fell at most of the hurdles, I think they were trying to do another Silver Side Up but failed.

==Cover==

I ...
...the album which is called Silver Side Up. The eye is very powerful and just looks brilliant with the rest of this album.

==Value For Money==

I brought this album at the time that All The Right Reasons came out, I think I managed to get a deal of a site or something like that, but you are still pretty much paying the same price as you would of straight after it came out. On both play.com and amazon, you're looking at ... more

I was looking through my collection today and realised that I had every album by Nickelback, except one, which was called The State, however I realised that two of the albums on my collection I had yet to review, so guess what, here is the review of

Who are Nickelback?

Nickelback are a Canadian rock band formed by Chad Kroger his brother Mike Kroger and Ryan Peake. They now have a new drummer called Daniel Adair. The bands' music is usually described as alternative hard rock or alternative metal. The bands name came from something one of the band members used to say when working at starbucks, 'here's your nickel back'.

The Albums

Curb
The State
The Long Road
All the Right Reasons
Dark Horse

==The Tracks==

Track 1: Never Again- 10/10

This is the third album by Nickelback, and this is the first track of this album and it really is brilliant, for people who are only fans of Nickelback and their softer tracks like Far Away then you probably won't like this, but if you are a fan of the whole package that Nickelback produce then this song is just amazing.

The song is very heavy throughout, but still happens to be one of the softer tracks; the track is about abuse pretty much, I believe he's talking about something that happened to him when he was younger as the lyrics seem to be from a son's point of view, some of the best lyrics and one of the most powerful tracks that Nickelback have produced.

'He's drunk again, it's time to fight, she must have done something wrong tonight, the living room becomes a boxing ring, it's time to run when you see him, clenching his fishs, she's just a woman, never again'

Track 2: How You Remind Me?- 10/10

This is the first song that I heard from Nickelback and still to this day it brings back good memories of when I was a kid headbanging to this track, it was such a good track and to this day it's one of my favourite Nickelback tracks. The song is of the slower side of the scales and these are the sort of tracks most people like, I myself just think that it's a brilliant track.

I remember watching the biography channel a few months ago, where they were interviewing Kroger about this and he told the interviewer that it was a toss up between this track to release first or I believe Never Again, and it was the choice of one radio station that made this song so good, I don't think Never Again would have worked as the title track.

Track 3: Woke Up This Morning- 7/10

This is another heavy track from Nickelback and like Never Again, it's got quite a poignant message, the track is about a guy paying his respects at a funeral. A fantastic track, but one of the weakest Nickelback tracks in my opinion, there are a lot better ones, this track works fantastically well with decent speakers but for me, Kroger has done so much better vocals and this track is just not fantastic.

I always find myself when listening to this track, putting it up as louder as it will go, it's such a fun track to listen to when it's on loud, it works better for big amps and everything like that.

Track 4: Too Bad- 9/10

I love the echo in Kroger's voice at the start and everything else about this track is brilliant, from the amazing drum beat to of course the amazing lyrics. Again if you listen closely you can hear the story within the track, this time he is talking about a family that are struggling in the world and a father leaving them in the lurch.

This is a very unique track, the verse is slow, but still manages to be very heavy with the drum beat and then the chorus makes fantastic use of your speakers, it's loud, it moving and it gets you headbanging. A fantastic track, which is pretty catchy as well.

Track 5: Just For- 8/10

Another heavy headbanging track from Nickelback, I love Kroger's voice on this, he has a very distinct and unusual voice and it's these type of songs that he works brilliantly with, the verses are a lot slower than some of their heavier pieces but it definitely fits into the category of hard rock unlike some of their slower tracks.

The song is about a guy wanting to rip this other guys heart as he's hurt his ex girlfriend, the lyrics again are just fantastic, they don't hold anything back with their singing, music instruments or even the lyrics, they tell it like it is, so with lyrics like 'I want to take his eyes out, just for looking at you', it's just brilliant.

Track 6: Hollywood- 8/10

I love the beginning to this track, very heavy and a very catchy riff at the beginning, and then the drums begin and it's another loud headbanging track which will stay in your head. I love this song, it's one of my favourites from the whole album, this track has some amazing riffs and the lyrics are brilliant as always.

I love this song, I think it is one of their most powerful tracks and my god does it sound good on your speakers, they have produced this song so well it's just faultless.

Track 7: Money Bought- 8/10

Again Nickelback don't pull any punches with the lyrics, here they are signing about a posh girl who gets everything given to her on a plate. This one is another great one on your speakers especially during the chorus, but it is one of the weakest on the album, especially so far.

The song is good, especially the chorus, but the verse isn't brilliant in my opinion and I think it could have been done a lot better than it actually is, it's a good song and if you lisnte to it in the car, you won't find yourself skipping.

Track 8: Where Do I Hide?- 8/10

A great intro into this song, very heavy and it sounds like it's going to be a great head banging track, from the lyrics it seems like he's singing about a guy with a criminal record and he's looking for a place to hide. Another great random song from Nickelback, none of the songs follow the same theme, they are all different and most of the time they are brilliant.

I love this song, and it's so good if you have it as loud as possible as it makes brilliant use of your speakers, Krogers voice is fantastic as always. Just brilliant. It's got a great beat to it, just another brilliant track by this band.

Track 9: Hangnail- 8/10

This track sounds very alike to Where Do I Hide, so much so I found myself seeing if the track had repeated on my laptop, however even though it is alike to the previous track, it is another brilliant track by Nickelback, Kroger's voice is just brilliant as always, the lyrics are a bit of a mystery to me, but they are sung brilliantly and they work fantastically well with Kroger's voice.

Another fantastic track one worth checking out, very powerful and very strong.

Track 10: Good Times Gone- 8/10

I really do like the start to this, it's weird for Nickelback, but it does work brilliantly well, very good sounds that work fantastically well especially when Kroger's voice joins in. This is a great track, which is very different to the rest of the album but it works just as good.

A fantastic end to a brilliant album, this track is one of the tracks I must have skipped before as I don't remember ever listening to it, however it's a great track.

My Opinion

I haven't listened to this album in a very long time, I have always said that All The Right Reasons was the best album by this band and I am still sticking to this, but this album is a lot better than I remember, I think my music taste has changed over the years and that might be why, I have always loved this style of music, but have always preferred the slower songs like How You Remind Me, however this album is not as commercial as the likes of All The Right Reasons, so they have put one slow song into the whole album and the rest is what I call real Nickelback.

Don't get me wrong, my favourite song by this band (Far Away) is one of their slowest tracks, however Nickelback should always make good use of your speakers and they do so with this album, it's all very head banging music and I dare you not to tap your foot along when listening to this album.

Nickelback have done brilliantly well over the years and this was the last time in my opinion, they were true to what they started off doing, I think with Dark Horse they attempted it, but the tracks were awfully written and just didn't work as well as this album and All The Right Reasons.

There are some great songs on this album, the best two you hear right at the beginning, one of their most famous tracks, How You Remind Me, features on this album and it is just fantastic, an awesome track which is just brilliantly written and preformed, other great ones include Never Again and Too Bad.

Originality

Nickelback were very original until a few years ago, when they became a bit more comericial with their All the Right Reasons release, then they sounded a lot like other bands out there. A lot of people are compared to Nickelback, for example Daughtry reminds me of Chad Kroger, they both have fantastic voices, unique voices and can do hard rock and soft rock at the same time.

The band is very original, some people may disagree with me, but I would like to hear what kind of band has such a raw sound like this, writes some brilliant lyrics which doesn't hold any punches and just all together, rocks.

Quality of Tracks

Most of the tracks on this album are awesome, of course you're going to get the odd one, that falls behind the pack, but in this case that is the 3rd song on the album and I still gave it a 7/10, which if you read my previous music reviews is pretty good. I think Nickelback did brilliantly well with this album.

Comparison

Of course I've got to compare the album to their other releases, I think All The Right Reasons appealed to me a lot more than this album when I first brought them, however I think Silver Side Up will soon be one of my favourites, it's so raw and just a brilliant album.

Compared to other albums, if I remember rightly this is a fantastic album, it is a 100times better than their most recent try, Dark Horse, which had a few good songs, but just fell at most of the hurdles, I think they were trying to do another Silver Side Up but failed.

Cover

I think the cover for this CD is just brilliant, the album cover is a picture of a cropped face, so you just see the eye and part of the cheek, running from the eye to mid cheek is a tear, made of silver, of course for the album which is called Silver Side Up. The eye is very powerful and just looks brilliant with the rest of this album.

Value For Money

I brought this album at the time that All The Right Reasons came out, I think I managed to get a deal of a site or something like that, but you are still pretty much paying the same price as you would of straight after it came out. On both play.com and amazon, you're looking at paying around a tener for the CD, which is just a bit too much in my opinion.

I would say your best bet is looking on EBay as I'm sure you can get it for a good price on there.

Should You Buy the Album?

I would say yes, if like some people you got into Nickelback during their 4th album and of course their most popular album (All The Right Reasons) and have ignored there previous ones, then buy Silver Side Up and stay well clear of Dark Horse as it is awful.

This is a great album and will sound great with a fantastic pair of speakers, just an amazing band and of course an amazing album.

(C) Kirsty 2009, please comment :D 

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