The State - Music (Nickelback)

Prior to the release of The State, grungey Nickelback won a Juno Award--the Canadian equivalent of a BRIT Award--for Best New Band. Named after an expression often used by bassist Mike Kroeger when serving coffees for $1.95 each in Starbucks, Nickelback have toured alongside Creed and owe a similar debt to the anthemic rock and articulate soulfulness of Pearl Jam. The State is consciously dramatic, with sweet strums constantly overwhelmed by crashing waves of distorted guitar. Singer Chad Kroeger (Mike's brother) meaningfully croons and wails his tales of life in a small town, with its complex relationships, claustrophobic underground culture and uncomfortable struggle between easy comfort (staying) and invigorating adventure (leaving). Yet Nickelback are at their best when escaping the Pearl Jam influence, as with the heavy, ponderous Billy Squier-style riffing of "Deep", the dirty 70s grind of "Not Leavin' Yet" and the slightly more experimental "Worthy To Say", where a near-Oriental ambient guitar is suddenly hammered by a burst of big rock and Chad Kroeger delivers a bluesy rap recalling prime-time Paul Rodgers. Nickelback are good, but still growing. Once they achieve their own clearly identifiable sound, they may well be great. --Dominic Wills

Customer Reviews of The State

John Doe
Colorado
29th May 2007

Nickelback and The State compared to all other albums.
First off, The State is the second best album by Nickelback(slightly inferior to Curb). Worthy to say is definitely the best song here, I've tried but find it difficult to find comparisons for this song.
Not Leavin' Yet is great and can be compared to Where do I hide. Cowboy Hat also is a great song musically and lyrically, perhaps the best lyrically. (no comparisons have been found.) Leader of Men is the biggest hit and reminds me a great deal of Nirvana's Come as you are.
There is no one clear comparison for the state though perhaps the best is The Long Road
enjoy

chris oldham
liverpool U.K
30th September 2005

in my opinion best album they've done
first off breathe and leader of men are two of nickelbacks greatest ever songs and in my oppinion this is by far the best album that they have come up with, although well just have to wait and see after all the right reasons come out!

NICKELBACK ROCK

Martin Watts
Reading, Berkshire United Kingdom
5th May 2004

One of the best Rock Album ever....
The State is quite simply one of the best Rock/Nickelback Album I've ever listened to. I had listened to Silver Side Up before The State and then purchased this not very long after and although I was at first not so pleased with The State, my opinion soon changed.

The songs do tend to differ from the latest Nickelback hits and appear much more "rocky" and somewhat lively. Tracks such as Diggin' This and Old Enough are a prime example of this. However, the softer more melodic side to Nickelback is also present, with the hit, Leader of Men which is in my opinion the best song on the Album.

The Songs, Not Leavin' Yet and Hold Out Your Hand aren't Nickelback's greatest hits and I was at first put off by these but after recently listening to them again, I've realised that they're a good album filler and do show that Nickelback are capable of providing some variation in their songs. They're not by any means bad, but they don't come close to other songs on the album such as Breathe, Leader of Men and One Last Run.

In comparison to the latest albums, Silver Side Up and The Long Road, The State is quite different and this may put you off if you're really into their latest stuff (which rocks just as much as this does)

If you like Rock music in general, then this is most definately an essential purchase. If your Nickelback fan then I'm left with the question, why don't you already own this album?

Dan Frith
London, England
8th April 2004

THIS ALBUM ROCKS
I'm sorry but it is true. I don't think that the other 2 albums after are that much better and the first 1 certainly isn't. I can't believe I didn't hear about this album first as it is almost better than the 2 after it.
It has some more popular top quality songs such as "Leader of men" and "Breathe" which are great even after listening to them a thousand times. However I think that the albums not so well songs such as "Cowboy hat" and "Digging this" are just as great to listen to.
The first song Breathe is, in my opinion the 3rd best song on the album and really reminded me of Linkin Parks "Crawling" and "Numb" the way it came back to the original tune on top of the current song at the end.
Then the next best song in my opinion is "Leader of men". This probably would have been my favourite if it hadn't reminded me of Busteds "Sleeping with the light on", but its still good with Chad Kroegers trade mark voice going strong all the way through. This is a great song.
My favourite song in the album has to be "Old enough". It truly is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard and in my opinion even better than "Someday" from the new album. This song rocks especailyy when the guitars get started midway through the first verse.
My only wish is that the guys from Nickelback could make evry album they make as good as this one and so far with Silver side up and the Long road they have succeeded.

lil_rey_de

19th June 2003

None Better
This is their best album of the three, if you owned silver side up before this one, you will not like this much, but once you get used to it, it is far better, having one song twice is a good thing, espesially if the song is Leader of Men, their is a couple of songs that are a bit dodgy, but the rest are so good they make up for it, and don't effect my stars rating. The accoustic version of Leader of Men is a great song for relaxing.
You'll listen to the album so many times you will know the words to all the songs in a week! I often sing them when i'm at school!
A new album is coming out soon so keep your eyes peeled!