MANILA, Philippines – ‘Stone Temple Pilots,’ Stone Temple Pilots, Warner Music

STP’s seventh album – their first in nine years – busts open the door with the hard rocking “Between The Lines,” which sees the San Diego, California quartet in fine form. The band, composed of brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo (guitars and bass), Eric Kretz (Drums) and Scott Weiland (vocals), brings a mixed bag of rockers that show off their varied influences to deliver one of their best sounding record yet.

The brothers Deleo is still at the helm of STP’s music, and bassist Robert comes in with great sounding tunes like the roadhouse blues-on-amphetamines feel of “Huckleberry Crumble” and the modern rock and pop tinged “Cinnamon.” Meanwhile, guitarist Dean’s trademark of layering guitar sounds (a la Jimmy Page) sounds extra good on the new set like on “Hickory Dichotomy” and on the “grunge” dipped “Take A Load Off.” The guitarist brings his mix of frenzied guitar soloing and is burning white hot on almost all the tracks, particularly on the former’s slippery slide guitar solos and on the latter’s snaky six string fills.

Chief lyricist Weiland on his part, comes up with a performance that mines his classic rock influences. You can hear those on some of the best sounding tracks in the set: From the Beatle-esque/Lennon-White Album-era sound of “Dare If You Dare,” to his dead-on David Bowie sounding take on the electric-acoustic layered “First Kiss On Mars.” He further approximates the thin white duke on “Peacoat” and on the album closer “Maver.” Weiland is a chameleon and sounds different on most tracks like on the aforementioned tracks and when he does channel himself, he is all the more effective on the chugging fuzz of “Hazy Daze” and on tunes like “Bagman,” and “As Fast As I Can.”

The band will be in Manila this month and it will be interesting to see and hear how the new tunes from this album mixes up with their classics like “Vasoline,” “Interstate Love Song” and yes, “Plush.” Now, would anyone be so kind to spare us tickets?

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‘Dark Is The Way, Light Is A Place,’ Anberlin, MCA Music

At first listen Anberlin’s music may seem daunting, what with those industrial sounding guitars and wailing sounds of “We Owe This To Ourselves” that start off this album. But Anberlin is actually one of the more melodic sounding, modern rock bands out there today. Proving this are the compelling songs that make up their fifth and latest album.

Dynamic and melodic, Anberlin scores with tracks such as the driving “Impossible” wherein the “wailing” that we hear gives way to a more emotive, yearning cry, courtesy of vocalist Stephen Christian; especially when listened to in the context of songs like the atmospheric “Take Me (As You Found Me),” one of the better sounding modern rock tracks that we’ve heard in a while.

Christian and the rest of Anberlin, bassist Deon Rexroat, guitarists Joseph Milligan and Christian McAlhaney and drummer Nathan Young brings a dark, alternative/modern rock sound to their latest album. However, as the title suggests, their album is more about the contrasts between light and shadows – and that’s how a brooding and bashing rock track like “Closer” can sit comfortably with an emotional song like the delicate tune “You Belong Here” which frames everything that is good about the band: great melodies and great feel; Christian’s ethereal wail; and the band’s knack for creating the appropriate drama with sound.

Other hot spots in the album are “Pray Tell,” “The Art Of War,” the rocking “To The Wolves,” and the acoustic guitar driven “Down.” Heck that practically covers almost all the tracks in the album so we’ll just come out and say it – it’s a great album.

Anberlin, by the way, is playing live in Manila and on the same day as Stone Temple Pilots. Now whatever you choose – hard-rocking “grunge” era heroes or hard hitting modern rockers – you can be sure that the music is good as these albums attest.

Now about those tickets... anyone?

(For more music reviews, visit www.mb.com.ph)