Singles Roundup: Slipknot, Volbeat, Blink 182, & Pattern Seeking Animals

There aren't many interesting albums to talk about this week, so let's look at some singles instead. We have a few bit names to tackle, and some conclusions to draw about records that are going to dominate the summer.

Slipknot - Unsainted

This is an improvement over the lackluster "All Out Life", but it still succumbs to the issues I've always had with Slipknot. Corey Taylor has pushed enough Stone Sour into their sound that the chorus is a solid, melodic effort, but it sits in a song that doesn't want that sort of hook. The rest of the track is their usual groovy aggression, which gets a bit boring even on a four minute track. They try to combine the anger and ferocity of their ugly days with something more mainstream, and I don't think it works as a whole. Two tracks have shown me all I need to know to avoid the full-length.

Volbeat - Leviathan

There's no denying Volbeat has been getting poppier. Their previous album was one I loved, but split fans by being their most overly mainstream record yet. This first taste of their upcoming record is in the same style, and unapologetically so. There's also the creeping sense of deja vu that comes through the verses, where it's so predictably Volbeat that it sounds like it could be four other of their tracks. The song is good, and it points in the direction I want to hear, but I'm worried Volbeat is starting to repeat themselves.

Blink 182 - Blame It On My Youth

What year is this again? Blink 182 and Backstreet Boys both have new music on the airwaves, and it's hard to tell which one of them is heavier. This is such a departure it's truly shocking. Gone is virtually any semblance that they are a rock band, instead replaced by modern pop that doesn't give the fans anything they want to hear. The first album without Tom Delonge was a mixed bag, but it sounded like Blink. This is worse than that, and doesn't even have the saving grace of satisfying an old itch. What a weird, confusing song.

Pattern Seeking Animals - No Burden Left To Carry

Speaking of confusing, there's this one. This band is made up of a bunch of current and former Spock's Beard members, plus the guy who's written a lot of the recent Spock's material, but it's not Spock's. They talk about this being something different, but it sounds pretty much exactly like the last couple of Spock's records, but with even less melodic edge to it. "Brief Nocturnes & Dreamless Sleep" was phenomenal, and features most of this lineup. This is staid, boring prog that created a new band where one wasn't needed. Last year's Spock's album was disappointing enough. I didn't need even more of it.