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“The Illusion of Progress”

Staind “The Illusion of Progress”
Standouts - “This Is It,” “The Corner,” “Tangled Up In You”

After nearly a decade of emotionally evocative rocking, most of Staind’s post-grunge rivals have fallen away, but Staind seems to have tied themselves to the masts for the long haul. “The Illusion of Progress” is the band’s sixth studio album and has all the trappings of their previous albums - ballads that crescendo into oblivion, riffs galore and a fair portion of emotional instability. However, Staind seems confident in the status of their sound, which allows the album to escape without sounding like a way to pay their mortgages.