Third Times the Charm: Nickelback's 'Silver Side Up'

NICKELBACK: SILVER SIDE UP

SCORE: 79/100 - 7.9

Bass-heavy, groovy grunge that uses both the post (grunge) and hard rock genres to make for a strikingly catchy and deeply enjoyable album if you let it be as it was intended. 

The writing on this album might not be entirely potent - but the ideas are important enough to stick, especially with the bold and striking opening track, 'Never Again'; which details domestic violence seen through the perspective of a child within the family. The songs here tackle important and heavy issues in a way that is highly unexpected, and although the band gets a bad rep, Nickelback are all parts coherent on 'Silver Side Up'. 

One of the main aspects of Nickelback's music is just how truly catchy it is. The instrumentals are perfect for the genre and are arranged in a way where they are full of energy - and it's all done in a way where everything sticks. The choruses are catchy, the storytelling on this album is superb, and it's all in all a great post-grunge album. Although the genre can be tacky at times - it has a sense of charm that makes it easy to love. 

And it is certainly easy to jump on a bandwagon when everybody else hates an artist, but is it worth it? 

For being their third album, this is an incredibly solid effort that shows the band's growth and materialization into the mainstream music curve. This album marked a significant period of success for the band, and it landed them one of their most famed and praised singles with the album's second track, 'How You Remind Me' - and although 'Silver Side Up' isn't quite as consistent as some of their later works, it's a jump into the right direction where the band had finally found their proper footing. 

More experimentation and boldness allowed for this album to shine and show off the band's true potential, and songs like 'Too Bad' and 'Never Again' showcase thick grooves, imaginative basslines, and meshing of elements that go into each other in ways that other band's have not tackled before. This album blends harder rock tracks with slower, more impactful ballads - and the blend makes for a truly enjoyable album. Although there are some elements of this album that aren't as memorable as others, it comes together into one great project that is surprisingly worthwhile.

Some moments of the album showcase the weaker sides of the bands sound - but the material that works truly does work wonders into their discography from this point forward. 

It's a heavy, spunky piece of post-grunge that works in ways that many other similar albums do not, and it manages to piece together exceptionally well for an album by one of the worlds most hated bands for no good reason. If you let Nickelback be enjoyable and disregard the reputation they have? You might just be in for a series of exceptionally enjoyable albums.