专辑简介

Year of the Spider was produced by Howard Benson, who's best-known for masterminding P.O.D.'s triple-platinum Satellite. Just as that group tempers its pummeling rhythms with passionate lyricism, so Benson has massaged the aggro-metal of Cold's initial releases into a better framework for Ward's gruff croon and deeply personal lyrics. Grappling with a family crisis, Ward pleads bitterly and openly in "Cure My Tragedy (A Letter to God)": "If you make the world a stage for me then I hope that you can hear me scream," he sings. "Don't take her smile away from me she's broken and I'm far away." It's arresting to hear such defiant honesty in a genre that, despite its reliance on depressing themes and personal rage, too often is maligned by its own acrimony. "Wasted Years" reaffirms this sentiment. An ambitious, acoustic-driven ballad accentuated by a full string section, the song builds with Ward harmonizing over specters of himself, repeating the song's desperate words until the final couplet. "It's not hard to fail/It's not easy to win." Year of the Spider is still bruised with the clichés that burden so many releases in this genre. But the dreary purples, blues, and blacks have faded just enough to reveal a band that isn't as concerned with anger and volume as it is with emotion and melodic breadth.