Stone Temple Pilots (Atlantic)
Grunge is dead and rock music is in a lull, so where does that leave the Stone Temple Pilots? The answer for this million-selling L.A. quartet is, surprisingly, better (and louder) than ever. Despite an out-of-vogue sound and lead singer Scott Wei-land's drug-related prison term, the band sounds supremely confident on this reunion disc. Discarding the pretensions of earlier albums, which often mimicked the darkly melodic perspective of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, the Pilots land in refreshing new territory. "Heaven and Hot Rods" combines hard-driving guitars with a boogie beat, while "Atlanta" finds the band basking in a sunny, mid-'70s folk-rock groove. Finally, these highfliers are worth championing.
Bottom Line: New rock for the ages
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