Nickelback‘s highly anticipated new album Feed The Machine was finally released to stores yesterday.
Having listened to it a few times now I’m feeling kinda mixed about the album. The title track which was released earlier this year set high hopes for a lot of people, giving the impression the album would be heavier than usual for Nickelback. In terms of heaviness though, that was the peak for this album. Coin For The Ferryman is also a good hard rock song before it jumps to a classic Nickelback power ballad in Song On Fire, which I think is one of their best songs to date. I love rock ballads. Sorry not sorry. Must Be Nice is another strong driving rock song that’s quite catchy, but the lyrics are questionable and really don’t make much sense. Kinda like From First To Last‘s new track Make War, they sound great but the lyrics are nothing short of cringey. From there the album really struggles. Home is a really good ballad, The Betrayal (Act III) and Silent Majority are really good, strong hard rock songs, the latter definitely one of the best songs on the album, but other than that the rest of the album is pretty forgettable (although After The Rain is growing on me), before it closes with a brief instrumental.
Overall, the album feels like it leaves more questions than answers. It’s the first Nickelback album in over 20 years to feature a direct title track, the first one since Curb in 1996! Where’s The Betrayal (Act II), and why does Act III comes before Act I? Why does the album conclude with an instrumental? Why weren’t any of the songs even nearly as heavy as Feed The Machine? Even though they made a last minute decision to increase the track listing from 10 songs to 11, it still feels a little incomplete.
If I had to rate the album, I’d probably give it about 3.5/5. It’s definitely one of the best albums of the year so far, but that’s not hard as nothing’s really stood out yet. For the traditional Nickelback fans, it still sounds very much like a Nickelback album. For those after something heavier it’s definitely got a bit of that, and for those like me who like their slower songs there’s something in there for you too. It didn’t quite meet my expectations, but it was still a decent album overall.
Listen to the new album below.