NICKELBACK-Feed The Machine

BMG

It is often said that Canadian outfit Nickelback is the most hated rock band on the planet. Based on what I wonder?! It cannot be denied that singer/guitarist Chad Kroeger and his three companions have managed to carve a place out for themselves in rock music and have managed to find a large audience buying their records. They had plenty of hits in the past and okay, some songs were a bit on the cheesy side perhaps, but first and foremost Nickelback was and still is a pure rock band with plenty of heavy rock influences. I think a lot of other rock bands and other people are just jealous because Nickelback got it together to find a big crossover audience and built a successful career for themselves. I am surprised to find that Nickelback and Dutch based record label Roadrunner parted ways after many years of working together. Earlier in 2017 Nickelback signed with BMG Records and now studio CD number nine has seen the light of day. ‘Feed The Machine’ kicks off like hell hath no fury with two hard rocking tracks (,,Feed The Machine’’ and ,,Coin For The Ferryman’’ and there are more rockers on the record) before more radio friendly and possibly more accessible songs like ,,Song Of Fire’’ or ,,Must Be Nice’’ are featured. I suppose Chad Kroeger has found this formula that enables the band to combine genuine rock with more ‘easy on the ear’ tracks. Ever since their 2001 platinum record ‘Silver Side Up’ Nickelback records do sound recognizable as Chad does have a very distinctive voice and the band does not do a lot of experimenting around where their sound or musical style is concerned. It is a formula that works and it is being used on this CD as well. Another decent and enjoyable record with even a tasty instrumental track (,,The Betrayal (Act 1’’) to close things off. Most hated? Possibly. Most successful? Definitely!