Why the surviving members of STP chose to self-title this album is a mystery. The last album with Weiland in 2010 was self-titled and it was a lot better than this. This record is basically the sound of a band with the name of STP starting all over again from scratch. Not going to lie, I wasn’t a fan of the first single “Meadow” and wasn’t sure how I would take this record. New singer Jeff Gutt tries to emulate Weiland a bit, particularly on the opening track “Middle Of Nowhere,” which has a bit of a late period STP rocking edge to it. It’s not a bad song at all; quite in fact, it’s one of the better tracks here.

“Guilty” is an average track, one that never really does anything for me and just falls away. “Meadow” is worse because it feels like a song that would’ve been relegated to the end of a Weiland-era record that people forget about. It has no real bang or excitement. The real difficult thing about this band is they will always be compared to their past no matter what they do, and that’s completely unavoidable for people like me who grew up really loving this band.

As the band gets older, the volume has gotten turned down and the songs aren’t as overly heavy as they used to be. The same could be said for the last two Weiland records, but a good rock song full of crunch would still be good every now and then - just saying, guys. The closest the band comes is on “Six Eight,” which has a nice riff but nothing else that memorable. “Roll Me Under” has some nice riffing as well and might’ve been a better choice for first single, and “Never Enough” would’ve been a strong second single as it has enough legs to really go the distance. There’s some nice soloing on “The Art Of Letting Go” but it feels like a bland ballad that would’ve been better suited as a B-side.

A lot of this record just feels very bland; there’s no real emotion or guts to anything. While Gutt tries his best, this band would’ve been better off if they’d changed the name completely and just tried some new things. Gutt does an admirable job but trying to live up to the heights this band once had; he just doesn’t succeed. Unfortunately, no matter how good of a singer he is, he’ll always be compared to Weiland. Sadly this band has endured more than enough tragedy for a group of musicians to stand, but they have persevered and it’s admirable how they’ve carried on. Still, this record just doesn’t rise above mediocrity.

Rating: C

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