 
Scott Weiland has a knack of getting fired from
every musical project that he puts his voice to
and over the past few years he has found himself
getting the boot from Velvet Revolver and most
recently Stone Temple Pilots but there is no denying
that the man has a solid voice as he really helped
make both of those bands with his solid stadium
rock vocals but now the Stone Temple Pilots are
back and have taken on Linkin Park’s Chester
Bennington as lead vocalist which has been met
with a big mixed reaction from fans of the Stone
Temple Pilots, Linkin Park and general rock fans
alike.
Stone Temple Pilots have been touring across America
with Chester Bennington as vocalist for a couple
of months now and have just got round to releasing
their first set of material with Chester Bennington
as vocalist with their new 5 track EP High Rise.
High Rise is an extremely energetic and catchy
EP which runs for just over 16 minutes and I am
sure that the majority of listeners will happily
listen to the EP over and over again as it’s
such a solid listen. The EP opens with the ever
so radio friendly ‘Out Of Time’ where
the DeLeo brothers really show what they can do
with their guitar riffs and bass lines gracing
the airwaves in a positive way and not to forget
Eric Kretz constant drum beats, vocally Chester
Bennington brings different dynamics to the band
and a much more fresh approach and from the second
he lays down his opening vocals I am hooked and
remain hooked for the whole ride.
‘Black Heart’ instrumentally opens
up sounding like an indie song and even more so
when Chester Bennington’s vocals come in
sounding so like that of Liam Gallagher, the bassline
from Robert DeLeo running throughout the song
are so catchy and in your face that I can see
this easily becoming a live favourite in the near
future.
‘Same On The Inside’ sounds very different
from previous Stone temple Pilots material and
sounds more like a solid rock n’ roll song
that could have easily featured somewhere in the
Linkin Park back catalogue as the vocals that
Chester Bennington lays down here are more like
those from the days of his slower paced Linkin
Park songs.
‘Cry Cry’ is a song that hardcore
fans of The Stone Temple Pilots should love as
the song has a classic Stone Temple Pilots feel
running throughout especially when Chester Bennington
lays down his vocals during the chorus which crazily
sound like what you would expect from Scott Weiland
if he was still in the band.
The EP closes with ‘Tomorrow’ a slow
paced rock ballad which oozes in excellence as
everything fits so perfectly from the sleepy sounds
to the solid guitar solo to Chester Bennington’s
solid lead vocals which are seriously full of
passion here.
As mentioned above having Chester Bennington replace
Scott Weiland have been met with a massive mixed
reaction with many people loving how the band
are now and others saying that the band should
change their name and claiming that Chester Bennington
sounds out of place in the band, I personally
think Chester Bennington has done a great job
as he has been given the chance to show off how
diverse his vocals are whilst the rest of the
band have been able to continue writing and playing
the solid instrumental work that they have been
known for over the years and I personally can’t
wait for EP number 2 or a new full length Stone
Temple Pilots album.
4/5
Review by Trigger
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