Cold

13 Ways to Bleed On Stage (Flip/A&M)
by Scott Hefflon

Too many cooks in the kitchen. While their debut was fumbled, it was received well by fans. 13 Ways… is an “everything but the kitchen sink” follow-up. You can tell too many people offered opinions on what should be done, and it was all listened to. The end result sounds like a CD-changer filled with dark, hard rock faves on shuffle. You get more than a little Vedder and Bush presentation (you can namedrop Creed if you like, just do it out of arms’ reach of me), some Fields of the Nephilim guitar (I dunno what you kids call it: Ethereal finger-picked Gothy rock?), a guest appearance by Aaron Lewis of fellow Flip-created band, Staind, and production by Adam Kasper (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), Fred Durst, and Chris Vrenna (NIN, Smashing Pumpkins). And, to be honest, the tunes, melodies and guitar riffs are just not memorable enough to get pulled in so many directions. Knowing the music machine, they’ll probably open some high-profile, hot-air package tour, and lots’ll be fooled by the emoting singer and the pretty lights.