Nickelback – The State (1998)

Ah…Nickelback. The most hated famous rock band to many. But back in their older days, they were actually musically decent. The State is one of their better albums, so cue the hysterical laughter, and here we go.

We begin with Breathe. It’s a pumping and pulsating rock tune that is actually quite good to listen to. There are some interesting chords and chord structures here, with some lyrics about social interaction. The breakdowns are interesting as well. It’s an almost political talk here. Interesting to listen to.

The follow up is the acoustic driven Cowboy Hat. It’s a weird tune that only Southern Americans with a twisted mind would enjoy. It talks perversely about weird relationships with…well if you listen to the song you’ll understand. A lot of the lyrics seem nonsensical, but the sound is fantastic.

Leader Of Men is an introspective and acoustic driven piece about considering what one has to say in life. It evolves into a strange love song of sorts, with great chords and nonsensical lyrics. It sounds very musically accomplished here.

Old Enough sounds quite, bad, really. It could have been rethought here, but the production powers this piece along. It does sound good in that respect, but is a very ordinary piece. Some questions are raised here about the quality of this song.

The pothead anthem Worthy To Say comes next. It’s a brilliant piece about weed and paranoia, and seems catchy enough for the mainstream audience. A great song, with some great sound effects here. Mint. “They’re growing dope everywhere around the block,” indeed.

The next song Diggin’ This is a song about wasting time. These guys here at this point were very musically accomplished. There is a great deal of variation in their chord structures, sound effects and structures here. A good listen.

Deep doesn’t sound that deep musically, but it’s a good tune anyway. It has some tripped out guitar sounds midway through, which add to the song. An interesting listen with a drum solo midway through as well, or is it? Adds to the album here. The producer here deserves kudos for the interesting sounds at hand.

One Last Run is a good listen. It sounds more uptempo and varied in terms of playing and structure here, adding something extra to the album. A good song. The drummer sounds like he is having good fun here.

And a real stinker is here now. Not Leavin’ Yet sounds pretty awful. This is easily forgiven here as much of the rest of the album is good. But come on guys, if a track stinks, edit it at least, rather than leave it in its entirety. That is a poor error of Nickelback’s in retrospect.

The next song is much better. Hold Out Your Hand sounds cool, and has some interesting lyrics as well. It’s got some Nine Inch Nails esque percussion here as well, a nice touch. It’s just a mint song on the album. Cool interplay between the instruments here.

Leader of Men – Acoustic is the last one on the album. It’s a good take on the song earlier on, with strummed acoustic guitars here. It sounds melancholy and different. A good way to finish up here. Sounds just as good, if not better than the original.

This album is actually quite decent. It’s not perfect, but then again it’s a very good listen overall. Nickelback deserve more credit than what they often receive, and this is a good example of that status.

7/10