12 Stones - Potter's Field
Rating
RIYL
-Label
Wind Up RecordsTracklist
1 Shadows*2 The Last Song
3 Far Away
4 Speak Your Mind
5 Lifeless
6 Bitter
7 Photograph
*8 Leaf Loser
*9 Stay Dorr,
10 Waiting for Yesterday
11 In Closing
* = choice cuts
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It's been an odd journey for Lousiana rockers 12 Stones. Their self-titled debut was virtually ignored upon release in 2002 despite the huge promotional push from Wind-Up for the lead single "Broken." The album received rave reviews from a lot of rock critics for its very tight sound and creative songwriting, which was very, very abnormal considering it was a non-experimental, relatively generic offering. However, in 2003, when fellow Wind-Up natives Evanescence hit it big with their single "Bring Me To Life" (which featured 12 Stones' vocalist Paul McCoy), their album saw a huge jump in terms of sales and the band rose from semi-well-known Creed soundalikes to household names.
The pressure was strong to produce a marketable follow up, and a year after the press turned to the band for their spot in the limelight, 12 Stones have delivered a follow-up called Potter's Field. There are a few things that are easily noticeable upon first listen to the album, first thing being that their sound has gotten even more generic. Second, they're trying to be a lot heavier of a band than they were when they first formed -- kind of like how Green Day got more punk for Insomniac -- and it does a lot to dull their sound even more and make it even easier to ignore. Third, there aren't that many hooks on the album -- it seems the band has sacrificed their knack for melody in order to reach a harder core -- and it completely ravages the music.
On Potter's Field, 12 Stones are trying way too much to sound like their labelmates (who are actually all worse than they are, which is funny) rather than just be themselves. "Far Away" sounds exactly like Finger Eleven, "Speak Your Mind" sounds a lot like Creed / Alter Bridge, and :"Shadows" combines Creed, Finger Eleven, and Drowning Pool. These are some of the worse examples, but there are others that are nearly as bad.
However, there are some decent tracks once and awhile. "The Last Song" is the best song on the album -- mostly because it sounds like it's from the first album -- and has a pretty nice melody (one of the few here). "3 Leaf Loser" and "Stay" (which both come toward the end of the disc) are show stealers as well, the first because it actually has a different structure to it and a good melody, and the latter because it also breaks from the chugga-chugga plainness of all the other songs here. While the songs are pretty good and might make the album worth buying to some people, the three tracks that aren't wretched aren't enough to save this album from its inevitable dullness. 12 Stones threw it all way in an effort to sell more records, and since it won't work, the band will be left without a record deal, a purpose, and a fan base in a year.
--Timothy Golden
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