Nickelback’s Feed the Machine Review

So it has been about three years since we've

had a rockin' radio here on GeekCast Radio. I

am of course TF2 and Mike. Joining me is JT from

Saskatoon. Hello sir. How ya doin'? I think I

need the quarterback. Anyway, um, we are here.

The last one of these we did was for Nickelback's

No Fixed Address. Feed the Machine is the new

album from Nickelback. I think it was like almost

90 % of their 2015 tour when Chad developed a

cyst on his vocal cords and then they had to

deal with the legal fallout from that and then

when they put in an insurance claim because of

that Lloyd's of London claimed it was a pre -existing

condition and then you know you didn't disclose

that when they set up this policy like years

before. How is a cyst growing on your vocal cord?

pre -existing, I mean unless he was born with

it, which we all know he wasn't. Have you dealt

with the American medical insurance, like, well

that's not always blended. Yeah, don't, yeah.

Let's not even, this is rock and roll, dammit,

we're not getting into insurance companies, whether

they be American or stiff -ass Brits. Yeah, so

yeah, like I said, Nickelback, they canceled

their tour, Chad got the surgery, he was in recovery,

and then the lawsuit began, and then Nickelback

countersued them. Mm -hmm. So So yeah, I I'm

not saying I what I wasn't not and Eagerly anticipating

a new Nickelback album. It's just Life gets in

the way and sometimes you forget that there's

a new album coming. So see I didn't forget about

it. The problem with me was And it's a problem

with me. It's not about them and how they promote

their music, because that's what you're supposed

to do. After I heard Feed the Machine the first

couple of times, the title track, I enjoyed it.

I thought it was great. I liked it. And Song

on Fire is obviously the first pop slash ballad

track. Um, and Kroger did say that this album

was going to be a lot heavier. It was going to

be a return to, you know, 21 years ago or, you

know, 17 years ago or whatever, you know, the

like, early, early Nickelback. And for the most

part it is, I just feel that Feed the Machine

has the most disjointed track order. That's true.

But, uh, like I was going to say there, like,

It's not that I wasn't anticipating the next

Nickelback album It's just like I said life gets

in the way and then up until uh, you know, two

or three months back when mike said, you know

You get like two or three days of mike blanchard

has tagged you on facebook I had you know, it

kind of slipped my mind and then you know, yeah

I feed the machine. It's it's a return. I wouldn't

say it's a return to form But they're kind of

going back to the well, you know getting back

to the young hungry days of Nickelback. Feat

the Machine is good as far as like a concept

song, you know, something where they're telling

a story. They've got a bit of a narrative kind

of threaded throughout the album. Yeah, that

first track wasn't bad. I'm going to say Song

on Fire is good. Song on Fire is Good. The problem

I have with Song on Fire, again this goes back

to my, and we'll go through the track listing

in a moment here once we get our initial opinions

out, my problem with Song on Fire is it's not

the song itself, it's the placement of where

it is in the album. I don't think it should have

been where it is, and we'll talk about where

it is in a minute, but what else were you gonna

say? I was just gonna say, like, Must Be Nice

is, out of the first three major tracks, Must

Be Nice is probably my favorite. Yeah. Although...

you know going on we'll get into like what i

think is actually my favorite song on the album

yeah as we go and the other problem i had with

this was before my computer crapped the bed and

i had to have it you know brought back to life

um the nickelback feed the machine iTunes pre

-orders only listed 10 tracks we all know Nickelback

is notorious for having 11 track albums and I

specifically remember watching or hearing an

interview with Chad Kroger with Ryan Peek with

Mike and all of them Chad specifically said the

record company pays us for a certain amount of

tracks that's what we're going to do now I understand

that, I get that, you're only being paid so much

to do so much, but you look at other bands like,

specifically Blackstone Cherry, okay, from, and

I don't know about their first two albums, but

from 2011's Between the Devil and the Deep Blue

Sea, to Magic Mountain, to the most recent album

from last year, Kentucky, all of those have had

bonus tracks or additional tracks or store exclusive

tracks or whatever and Nickelback used to do

that I mean you know you go back and look at

the long road the long road had a special edition

version and things like that you look at what

I forget who was it was it Alex Richie somebody

commented recently about I don't think it was

that you know Batman you know, piss -loving guy

that we both know. But somebody commented about

how Theory of a Dead Man is Nickelback -like.

Even Theory of a Dead Man has had bonus track

versions and things like that, but you go through

Nickelback's discography and most of the albums

are either 10 or 11 tracks, especially since...

just after all the right reasons. So what was

it, Dark Horse was after all the right reasons?

So from Dark Horse to now, it's pretty much been

11 tracks. When this came out, I'm like, 10 tracks,

wait, that's not their normal stance. So I just

left the pre -order there and I'm like, okay,

cool, whatever. And then I get a notice, I look

at their Facebook page and Twitter page and I

get a notice from iTunes saying, Your pre -order

has been cancelled because they added an 11th

fucking track. Are you kidding me? Seriously?

You're gonna have somebody do a pre -order and

then, you know, I didn't actually get the pre

-order notification that it wasn't gonna be fulfilled,

because thankfully I had already cancelled it,

but I didn't actually get the notification from

iTunes until the day of album release. That's

fucked up, Apple. I'm sorry it is, but it is.

yeah that doesn't make sense like you got the

pre -order and they add a track so you know that

I find that really confusing like why would they

oh god I've gone cross -eyed I know right just

yeah And they're like, we're sorry. And again,

they made it sound like, oh, well, we wanted

to do more. You know, we wanted to get back to

work for you guys and give you one more track.

And oh, please, you didn't want to give us one

more track. You've got more money for that track.

Yeah, it's... Well, I mean, yeah, it's the business.

Yeah, they want more money. It's just... They

got more money for that 11th track. And sadly,

that 11th track... Okay, so the track listing

11 tracks first track is feed the machine Second

track is coin for the ferryman Third track is

song on fire fourth track is must be nice Fifth

track is after the rain sixth track is for the

river seventh track is home Eighth track is the

betrayal act three, huh? Where's acts one and

two? Ninth track is Silent Majority. Tenth track

is Every Time We're Together. And then the eleventh

track is The Betrayal Act 1. Huh? Which is just

a fucking instrumental. I'm all for an instrumental

Nickelback album. That's fine. But where the

hell is The Betrayal Act 2? What the hell is

going on here? Why does Act 3 come before Act...

Like... This is Sky Blue. Why doesn't ice cream

have bones? Shut up Ours is not your know why

ours is to listen and no This needs to make some

sort of sense and I'll get my my track listing

gripes out of the way here song on fire is pretty

much the most ballady song on the on on the album

it should have I Almost want to say put it at

track 9 and have it go right before every time

we're together. Because you look at Feed the

Machine, Coin for the Ferryman, Must Be Nice,

After the Rain and For the River and Home, those

are all very fairly hard, heavy tracks. Hearing

a slow song track after Coin for the Ferryman

just... it feels out of place to me. Yeah, I

mean, it's... not, uh... I think that what they

did with the track listing is they they front

-loaded the album with like the strongest tracks

obviously I mean, yeah compared to like feed

the machine and coin for the fairman Song on

fire is it's out of place. It's not a weak weaker

song. It's because they're going for more of

a Power ballad. Yeah sort of sound the rock song

Kind of an anthem almost the it it does it's

like You're up there with like the hard stuff,

and then there's like this abrupt left turn heading

down the old switchback trail you know like with

this ballad so I Generally for me. It's not a

huge thing track listing like if I enjoy the

songs. I enjoy the songs it's You know if I'm

gonna make a playlist later in iTunes, you know

and set it up the way I wanted to set up Tell

a story like that, you know, cuz you're looking

at the the track listing. I Mean they started

off with the title track of the album that kind

of Duh, you know is this thing because you kind

of want to start off like that And I find that

first track it's just because they're telling

this story and it's like in the future and Corporate,

you know, it's kind of got like this whole idea

like corporations where the machines have kind

of taken over It's essentially a theme for the

old Matrix movies Exactly when I when I first

saw the track title and when I first saw the

single album Artwork the single album artwork

was different from the actual album art the actual

album art is a guy, you know With his arms out

with you know Standing in front of a crowd very

yeah, very it's very Bill Gates as Steve Jobs

kind of very Steve Jobs ish or I would even say

I would even dare to say very neo ish because

again feed the machine and he's got what looks

like you know the matrix kind of why not wires

but you know things going you know plugging into

his back kind of thing so this whole album kind

of reminds me of the original Matrix movie a

little bit at least with the imagery and with

feed the machine itself I like the chords and

the progressions on Feed the Machine. I think

it's great that they, I think it's like a minute

and a half that it's all instrumental right up

front until the first part of the lyric kicks

in. I love that. I thought that was great. So,

you know. Well, I know it's definitely got that,

you know, that Nickelback sound, like the hard

charging guitar riffs and all that. And that's

one of my favorite things about Nickelback's

music is the It's not exactly 80s hair rock,

you know, which is a lot of the stuff. I love

listening to growing up But it's it's that's

their kind of signature sound It's like those

those short intense riffs. Yeah with a lot of

their music And you know when you talk about

You know story like storytelling in song Maybe

I didn't quite get the story when coin for the

fair and just kind of if you know stuff about

Mythology and the Greek underworld and all that

like coin for the ferryman. I mean, they're out

they're talking about You know sure on the ferryman

the other guy takes you across the river sticks

to the underworld Mm -hmm. I mean just that whole

The music and everything just just caught and

knowing what I know about mythology just constantly

had that Imagery in my mind listening to you

coin for the fairy sound I would almost say this

is probably my least favorite song on the album

just see it's my favorite because I think it's

the hardest one they did on this well yeah I

mean I mean I mean feed the machine is hard must

be nice is hard but coin for the ferryman is

by far harder on you know some of the instrumentals

and things like that so and it's not tonight

I just disliked it in the thing that the energy,

it's a little too frenetic. But see, that's what

I think they need. So that's what I think they

need right now. Everybody always complains about

Nickelback being the rock ballad band. You look

at how you remind me, someday, photograph. gotta

be somebody yeah gotta be somebody what were

the ones from from here and now I don't know

like lullaby and things like that okay and song

on fire is essentially and I'm not we're not

gonna get into that but song on fire is essentially

another string of the same thing of that's their

ballad that's going to be their ballad for the

album because honestly really The rest of the

ten tracks past, besides Song on Fire, Song on

Fire really is the only true Nickelback, Someday,

Photograph, How You Remind Me, Ballad type. The

rest of these tracks are all fairly, fairly fucking

hard and they are awesome. But Coin for the Furry

Man, I think everybody always complains, oh they're

just a ballad band, they're just this, I wish

they would go back to their roots of being hard

rockers. that's what coin for the ferryman does

well yeah no just like i said just and it's not

that i dislike it just like you're just saying

of yeah you know you could make the argument

that the instrumental track that the end the

album is the beat of the song and we'll get there

but uh like i said it's just i might i'll come

i'm not saying this is you know my only opinion

is i'll probably i'll probably come around in

that eventually it's just You know having only

listened to the album a couple of times since

I got it is That this is not my favorite track,

you know, and then like we see we're saying we

move on to like song and fire That's the ballad

It's your tradition. And look, folks, I am a

die -hard Nickelback fan. You're a die -hard

Nickelback fan. Everyone else that we interact

with is not. Everybody else just bashes them

no matter what. And they don't really give reasons

why they don't like them. They'll say, oh, well,

they don't make good music. Well, neither does

Justin fucking Bieber. He's from Canada, too.

And I bet he's less. I bet Nickelback is more

hated than he is. But it's one of those things

where Song on Fire is a great ballad. believe

it's about you know Chad's divorce from from

Avril I would assume because really did anybody

see that last thing I'm sorry I don't mean to

speck normally I don't speculate on my favorite

musicians personal lives because I don't care

as long as they give me a good album but like

really when I heard that news they get they had

gotten married I'm like really seriously That

is a really really weird combination and hearing

her sing some of Nickelback's songs is just mind

-blowingly weird Yeah, I mean as much as I would

like to Say gee, I hope it works out for those

crazy kids Not that I don't care about the personal

lives but You know, we both grew up in the 80s

where you know paparazzi All that was really

in its almost it's still in its infancy Yeah,

you know and there were still some mystique if

you didn't know like Brad Pitt went to the grocery

store bought some skittles You know, so when

I heard about that and I was like, huh? Well,

maybe it'll work, you know, that's really as

far as I went with that. Yeah and definitely

listening to the lyrics song and fire is influenced

if not directly yeah I mean I love the lyrics

I think the lyrics are great I you know it you

know the song is great the only thing I don't

like about it as I've already hammered into the

ground here, is the placement of it on the album.

It should have been, if Chad Kroger is going

to tell me this is going to be a return to classic

Nickelback, this is going to be us hard rocking

it out, Song on Fire should be second to last

or the last track on the album. Yeah, it's kind

of like on here and now, I would have put this

as the last track, don't let it end. Yep. Absolutely.

after working my way through that album and then

don't let it end like I love that song and you

move on to must be nice this and silent majority

which is like the ninth track you know those

are my two favorite tracks and I'm putting it

out there like must be nice this is my favorite

song of the album yeah I'm not going to argue

with the placement. No, no, no. I don't have

a problem. No, no. Like I said. I'm not saying

you don't have a problem. I'm just saying in

terms of after you listen to Music Creatures,

I think this is a good kind of middle of the

album song. It's something that grabs you, keeps

you trucking through the album to where it's

placed. And it has that... You know, it has everything

I love in a Nickelback song and it's got the

guitar riffs. It's you know, good, you know Chad

on The little hooks and just like the music and

talent played mixed with the beat with the lyrics

Like it all just kind of comes together from

the song Yeah, you're right, and it does and

you know it's got a nice hook It's got some great

lyrics that are you know fairly catchy because

let's face it. That's what Nickelback has to

do They have to come up with catchy lyrics for

various songs that they are doing and like I

said the only Track out of the entire album.

I have a problem with the placement I have no

problem with any of the other ones as far as

placement It's just song on fire that I have

a problem with so must be so if if I was making

my own playlist I would like you said put Song

on fire is the last track after every actually

I'd probably put it before every time we're together

I'd probably put it in between Silent majority

and every time we're together So you start off

with feed the machine coin for the fairman must

be nice after the rain for the river home Those

are all fairly all hard tracks. I'm sure they're

gonna try to find a way to make after the rain

which is the next track after Must Be Nice. Some

sort of way to make that a ballad, but I've listened

to that track over and over and over again since

the album release on June 16th of this year.

I don't think there's any... Like I said, Song

on Fire seems to be the only ballad on the album.

Every time we're together, maybe you could make

an argument for that? But, I don't know. I do

like After the Rain, though. That has some nice

hooks and stuff in it. Yeah, and... I would say

this is like another ballad for the album like

it's got you know, that's it's slowed down like

the energy is You know, it's they slow it down

a little bit. There's a little more of You know

that what what a lot of people have bitched about

like the whole Schmaltzy slow like, you know

sweet sounding Nickelback tracks like you know

photograph or someday like there's just that

Kind of middle of the roadness to the song I

Would listen to Because and this is only because

I've listened to song on fire so much But I would

listen to after the rain more right now at this

point of the recording than I would song on fire

I like I said I like song on fire, but because

it was one of the three lead singles I've heard

it so much at this point. Actually, before I

did the quick re -listen before we recorded this,

I'd listened to the whole album before we recorded

this, but before that, I actually took out Song

on Fire. I took it completely off my playlist,

because I've heard it so much already. It's not

as overplayed as how you remind me, but it's

going to get there eventually. I don't know if

it'll get quite that big, because how you remind

me is... That was the lightning in a bottle that

you know catapulted Nickelback into the public

consciousness You know you want to talk about

it a hook. It's you know when Chad hits that

high note in the you know the back like in the

third act of the song Hmm sort of moment, but

no after the rain like I said, it's it's a ballad

I love the song and not as much as you know must

be nice Well, it's song on fire and such like

that Yeah, that's just when you get into for

the river I Love the placement of these two with

after the rain and then for the river. Yeah because

after the rain while it is sorta kinda not really

a ballad in my mind I mean I get why you think

it's a ballad and that's great and that's fine

and whatever but tracks five and six almost remind

me no pun intended here folks of what they did

on no fixed address what they did on no fixed

address which was the album before this they

had they had um i don't know it came oh they

did that with the video okay so track six and

seven on no fixed address was get uh track six

was satellite and and seven was get them up get

them up was a single before satellite was but

how they did the videos was it was a two -part

video where get them up was the first part of

the story and then satellite was the second part

of the story And that's kind of how I feel what

they're doing with after the rain and for the

river They're not story connected. But yeah the

feel of the tracks like it feels natural that

For the river comes after the rain Yeah, it's

I think my major gripe with the song like It's

a good song, you know, it's Like I said, it's

got the riffs which is something I love in my

rock music I just think what bothered me with

the song is Stylistically if that's the proper

word It's sounds so similar in its structure

to must be nice With uh how chad's singing and

the music and everything that I think it just

that's why it rubs me the wrong way because it

sounds so similar to must be nice but it's not

must be nice. I think it's I think the reason

you're thinking that is is because must be nice

is a much faster pace. Well yeah I mean there's

I'm saying his his lyrics are you know how he's

saying you know the lyrics on must be nice that

song is done It's sung at a faster pace because

the lyrics kind of flow into each other whereas

for the river It's a hard track, but the lyrics

are almost soft a little bit Yeah But aside from

that it's a great song just like I said it just

for me. It just sounds Never like it's a nevermind

sweet. It's just it sounds so similar mm -hmm

to must be nice that I'm just kind of like It

doesn't do a whole lot for me. Yeah Yeah, I understand

that and up next we have home Didn't they already

release it no that was the deed that was the

name of the DVD I was gonna say there have been

several times in Nickelback's career where they've

had songs that they've re -released as the same

title before So Home I like I think the lyrics

are a little weird, but I like it What about

you I'm gonna quote the neutrals from Futurama.

I have no strong feelings one way or the other

put this track like I You know, I can't believe

I'm saying this i've never said this before about

a nickelback song like meh you know like like

i said like it's it's it's a decent song and

the guys are working on it it just this does

absolutely nothing for me you know sad to say

and like i said i like home but it's one of those

things where some of the lyric like she smells

like home Like just that one part of the lyric

is just weird. I love the I Love all the instrument.

I love all the riffs and the drums and all that

stuff behind it But just some of the lyrics are

just a little strange Yeah, no, it's like you

said it's it's okay it just it does nothing for

me I can't honestly think you know, it doesn't

Hook me in any way that I have like I said the

neutrals. I have no strong opinion about this

one way or the other. Yeah Then we get the betrayal

act three Which you know, I agree with you both

in the sense of the track listing and Like I

remember listening to there was a couple of kiss

albums I had growing up and a couple other rock

albums where you know you had you know the title

track and then it was like part three or you

know the come let's say let's call it the comeback

part six you know that some albums that they're

going for concept or they had some narrative

weaving through these specific songs that i've

always enjoyed that kind of an idea but again

like you said with the track listening it's kind

of confusing to listen to part three then listen

to part one and have no idea about part two and

Part one really has nothing to do with part three.

What so well my opinion Yeah, but again, we don't

really know what the narrative that Chad the

boys are going with here For me just likening.

It's like when I first I love the screen movies

here and I saw screen two and Before I ever saw

So, you know, you get thrown into the middle

of the story like that with no idea of the context

for the production of events from the tour. It's

just really confusing, which is kind of how I

feel listening to it. I really enjoyed it. Mm

hmm. It's like part two and then this is part

three. Like at least that's my head can't hear

unless you know they come out like an unreleased

single. Something like that. At this point the

next album isn't gonna be until 2020 And then

yeah, you've been thinking about it then like

yeah this Aside from where the songs go in terms

of how you like song I was like, okay, whatever.

It's the track list and the company made it but

It's just really confusing to be missing You

know, you've got a new hope and Return of the

Jedi bears impact. You know, because we're missing

the middle chapter. Yeah, it got force choked

out of existence. Jar Jar would have got force

choked out of existence. Rogue One is absolutely

useless except for the end. That being said,

musically... I feel lyrically, I think, while

it's not my favorite song, The Betrayal Act 3,

I think, is the strongest track on the album.

It shows the most maturity and the most growth

as artists that Nickelback is showing. Not saying

that they haven't, but let's face it, they got

away from it on no fixed address, but for like,

Here and Now and Darkness and... Just the one

of course When they're the depths of that all

the right reasons all the right reasons those

three albums that's where nickel back haters

get a lot of their fuel for the whole stripper

anthem and They're not even trying It's all just

the same songs over and over again it Because

like they're like you said they're trying something

new they're trying to grow as artists I think

the betrayal act three shows They are growing

not that they were never not artists because

you know when we spoke a while back about their

cover of Dirty Laundry Like yeah, you know that

shows like okay. It's a cover, but they put their

heart and soul into that cover You know especially

when you watch the live video Chad laying down

that rift in the middle It's just if they're

either on the bandwagon They just don't Yeah

Silent majority another Almost politically charged

track, which is fine Well, they're you know,

they're entitled to you know, express their feelings

of certain things and that's fine I like it.

I think it's interesting It's not remotely a

try. I listened to it, but it's not a track that

I Listen to all of the time after the first three

listens, I think mm -hmm this by far out of all

of the This is their ninth studio album. So Out

of all nine of the studio albums this is the

one that I pick and choose the tracks more than

any other album because again I was expecting

something more of an album narrative to where

each song would tell a you know a single part

of a larger story and as I said at the beginning

of this I just feel that this entire album the

track listing is disjointed except in a couple

of places. What were you thinking on Silent Majority?

This is my other favorite track from the album

Basically It's Got everything I love it's like

must be nice. It's got everything I love in a

Nickelback track You know, it's got the hooks.

It's got the guitar play guitar riffs guitar

playing Jesus, you know It just has everything

I want in a Nickelback song It's like I said,

it's by no means is it the best song on the album

Like objectively speaking, but it is my fate

one of my favorite songs in the album like this

You know this is like I Like this in terms of

you know, welcome to the jungle by GNR, you know

talk dirty to me by poison Animal by Def Leppard

like it is by no means their best song But this

is just that one that hits you're right in the

sweet spot that you're just like fuck yes turn

it up This is that you know heck yeah song like

turn this up Yep This is a sort of song that

Would love to play it so loud in traffic that

somebody must roll down their windows and tell

me to turn it down And then I turn it up louder.

Sorry. I can't hear you the music's too loud.

Mm -hmm Yeah, actually playing Nickelback once

This is almost like it's not as hard as bodies,

but it's almost as hard as drowning pools bodies.

It's almost I wouldn't put it anywhere near as

hard as drowning pools bodies. I mean, I love

that song. Don't get me wrong I'm saying the

the catchiness of yeah of silent majority is

kind of like that Oh God, what is the name of

that stupid song? Oh, I'm trying to think Something

that no one has ever accused a Nickelback fan

of doing What's that trying to think? Honey,

you asshat. Um... I say it with love. No, there

was a, um... Oh, I know what it was. Silent Majority

is the song you want to crank up just like people

wanted to crank up Disturbed Stupify. There were

several times a few number of years ago that

I was running around town here in Louisville,

Kentucky and I heard like... two different people

on two different days have stupefied from disturbed

at full blast in their car stereos and i'm like

hey i know that song you can turn it down now

thank you i remember yeah absolutely uh and then

we find out that uh chad kroger is dating taylor

swift I'm sorry, could you repeat that? It sounded

like you said Tay -Tay had her claws in my nickelback.

Yeah, she does. Oh, dear sweet fragrant fanny

Moses. Because apparently, we're never ever ever

getting back together sounds similar to every

time we're together. You know what? It's... Oh,

God! I'm telling you. I'm telling you. God damn

it, Tom Hiddleston. You couldn't have kept that

shit on lock. Because when Loki, the god of mischief,

was dating, I was like, you know what? Good for

you. You deserve each other. And I meant that

honestly, because it's not like I hate Taylor

Swift or anything. It's just... Every time I

think of Taylor Swift and reminded the joke Taylor

Swift wave tied a boy He didn't wave back her

new album will be out on Tuesday. I Just yeah,

but hopefully it'll work, you know, cuz honestly

like I I'm essentially giving you fake news.

I don't know if it's actually true. I'm just

saying as soon as I heard Every time we're together

that hook I instantly thought of that Taylor

Swift song because of the fact that that's what

it sounds like and I went back to the Taylor

Swift song and I grabbed it and I'm like yeah

it kind of does a little bit just part of that

chorus it's so friggin weird and Well, I love

Ryan Peake and I love his instrumental stuff

and whatever, you know, work that they put into

this, I'm sorry. Every time we're together should

have been the last track. The Betrayal Act 1

should not be here. It should be somewhere else

in the album. Cuz it's not like I was I got like

two and a half minutes Well, no, I got a minute

and a half into a tune into a two minute and

42 second song and I'm like, where are the lyrics?

I didn't realize it was gonna be an instrumental

track and I'm fine with Nickelback experimenting

hell They had flow right on the last album for

fuck's sake. I mean, you know They had the entire

state of Florida on their album. I didn't notice

that funny funny guy yeah but you know I mean

I mean like look they've experimented in the

past and that's fine I mean you know you look

at 2008's Dark Horse that was produced by mutt

fucking Lang of all people you know and that's

fine that's not a problem whatsoever having Florida

on on you know no fixed address one track is

fine I have no problem with that If Nickelback

is gonna do an instrumental, put it somewhere

where it makes sense, not the last fucking track

on the album, because this makes no damn sense

to me whatsoever. Yeah. And I don't ever remember

reading anything, any news -wise, about this

being an... I remember when they released the

track listing, it showed the betrayal Act 1 and

Act 3. I do not remember anything about the little

track listing image that Nickelback's social

media showed about it saying it being an instrumental.

So when I first heard this, I'm like, what the

fuck is this? True. And you know what? I'm not

going to put any more thought into this. Just

in the fact that I didn't even comment. Every

time we're together, it's a perfectly serviceable

song. Something Nickelback has put out before

it's kind of like home in that as much as I didn't

you know had no strong opinions about home I

I doubt I'll remember every time we're together

you know going for it's like oh yeah that's a

Nickelback song and you know what what character

am I gonna play as Mortal Kombat like it's literally

it's it's that breeze You talk about I think

as far as the track listing goes and how they

have like we're missing You know, like I said,

we're missing the Empire Strikes Backs of this

supposed trilogy I guess these two chads just

trying to do some sort of experimental artsy

rock thing here Maybe we'll get part two as a

separate single. Maybe it'll be on the next album.

Maybe there won't ever be one, you know Maybe

somebody said somebody said feed the machine

could have been part I kind of eluded that earlier

at this point. Maybe they're just treating Maybe

they were so unhappy with betrayal act 2 they're

treating it like Halloween 3 season of the witch

that it doesn't matter in the continuity of this

of the franchise and maybe it'll people will

come around and discover it and will love it

for its on its own sort of thing, but gotta say

I love the kind of influences like kind of I

don't think they actually there there's some

influences in the instrumental here that sound

very much I'd say almost inspired maybe inspired

by Carlos Santana like there's like elements

of Spanish guitar and that's sort of very melodic

music I wouldn't say music play but you know

very kind of Spanish guitar cell performance

in the piece and I really enjoy it. Now placement

on the album I think it's in the wrong damn place.

This should have been like six or seven and must

be nice I would have put or after the rain I

would put either of those songs as the final

track because that's what we're used to from

the last couple albums that you know it's it's

got the beats and flows. That being said This

is probably my third favorite track on the album

just because again it goes towards showing that

they have grown so much more than people are

giving them credit for in terms of you know their

artistic abilities and This is a very good example

of this is what happens if you guys just shut

up and listen to the music Yeah If I can just

for a moment get on my soapbox about music haters

in general My Nickelback haters cuz I'm done

with you people I could care less Than to quote

a comic book written by Warren Ellis called Transmetropolitan

who has one of my favorite not giving a shit

lines of all I could give less than two tugs

of a dead dog's cock Whether or not you like

the band You'd like it. You don't like it. What

the F ever What I take a fit well not a fence,

but you know umbrage with what I take offense

with is Don't bitch You know, it's and then this

goes for a lot of things it's like man I like

the mummy movie that came out a lot of people

don't and I agree. It's a very flawed movie,

but people talking and commenting on Whether

or not something is good or bad as if your opinion

was the final nail in the coffin That's what

I get and that's what I hate and especially when

he talked about music music From everything you

can talk about whether you know, how well it's

sold how well it plays on the radio how The lyrics

and the guitar play mix that's fine for me and

for a lot of people music is about how it hits

you in the heart not the head it's about how

it makes you feel not how it makes you think

so you don't like nickelback fine don't like

nickelback but don't sit there and crow like

your opinion is any more or less valid than the

next guy i've talked to metalheads who and nickelback's

okay they're not my cup of tea but they've got

some skills versus some you know God Carlton

Banks, you know sweater over the shoulders Who

will say, you know Whatever they're listening

to it's just you know what music affects everyone

differently and I've never thought my opinion

was more or less valid Than the next guy Hmm

end of rent. Yeah, I mean they're The The whole

pre -order thing just... God, it was like...

Your bacon? Yeah, I don't know. It just... It

just almost soured me on the whole thing. Really,

seriously. I mean, I was excited, you know, when

we had the news of, hey, Feed the Machine's coming

and, you know, February 1st... 2017 we're gonna

get the first new single and whatever else and

and Looking at the original track listing image

that Chad posted or that Nickelback posted on

the social media sites. I Just counted them.

It has 11 tracks. I forget what the hell was

originally listed in iTunes But originally it

was listed in iTunes as 10 tracks. So I don't

know what the hell they had missing but I don't

know Don't even I would have to go back and listen

to our no fixed address Review because I don't

remember what it was three years ago. I don't

remember what the hell we rated that feed the

machine zero to five I'll give it a Three and

a half out of five I Can go with it. That's kind

of how I'm feeling too. Like I said, it's Almost

the four, you know, it's like a three point seven

five, you know that sort of thing. It's It's

a good album. It's it's almost a great album

like I said the only thing that really sours

me is like you the track listing and like I said

with home just and and every time together, it's

just Even for some of my like let like Dark Horse

not my favorite Nickelback album, but You know,

but at least dark horse had a track listing that

makes sense Well, it's not even it makes sense.

Like you just look at all the tracks in and of

themselves Pardon me There is There isn't one

track on there that doesn't do something for

me that doesn't have a hook on some level and

unfortunately feed the machine there's like I

said there's two tracks that I just oh really

those were on the album hmm you know I forgot

about those you know that sort of thing so yeah

it's it's a three and a half out of five for

me it's overall it's you know it's a great album

it's it's a step forward in terms of you know

artistic maturity sort of thing like you showed

that these guys are grown they've they've they

kind of getting beyond the stripper anthems and

the Drunk rock and all that as some of their

a lot of their tracks have been in I mean just

looking at Dark Horse right now and again I don't

know if it was Chad or Ryan or Mike or Daniel

or if it was producer Mutt Lang because Mutt

Lang did produce Dark Horse You know we start

with and we're not gonna go through a full album

review we already did this but you know something

in your mouth burn it to the ground and You know

got to be somebody Gotta Be Somebody is the third

track, it's a ballad -y track, but then we go

to I'd Come For You, Next Go Round, Just To Get

High, Never Gonna Be Alone, Shakin' Hands, Sex,

If Today Was Your Last Day, and then This Afternoon.

Which is one of my favorite Nickelback tracks,

because, I mean, we don't really have music videos

on TV anymore, at least as far as I'm aware,

but... The fact that you know, we've got YouTube

and Vimo and all that this afternoon Just kind

of what makes that track one of my favorites

is the effort and the fun that the band had making

an old -school like late 80s early 90s kind of

mini movie music video like you see that there's

a story there And yeah, it kind of devolves into

like a drunken backyard party full of, you know,

bikini clad women and female cops stripping out

of their uniforms and looking all sexy. And I

on some level of misogyny as a guy, I have no

problem with that. But it's just it takes it

back. And it kind of reminds like this afternoon

kind of reminds me of like any number of 80s

comedies that I watched growing up. Like it just

it's got that comfort food kind of. You know

comfort foodness to itself with um with song

on fire I Think the lyric video is better than

the actual music video I have no idea what the

hell is going on like I have no idea what kind

of message they're supposed to be sent like I

was expecting something about You know him, you

know writing stuff down and ripping the pieces

of paper. I was not expecting a woodland adventure

I was not expecting Nickelback meets Lord of

the fucking rings for crap's sake because that's

what we got with the Song on fire music video

and Well, I love the track. I love the music

video because it makes no fucking sense whatsoever

Yeah, it's I haven't seen I didn't know they

had a music I knew they really you didn't know

no no no no I'm sure I'm sure people are already

pissed we've already talked this long about Nickelback

so yeah pretty much and a half stars I liked

it a lot a couple of tracks that I'm just uh

-huh you know fart in the wind but that's that's

just me again like I said my opinion these are

our opinions folks make of them what you will

we I hope you guys at least check it out give

it a chance cuz there's time to react time to

react It's too damn weird it makes no sense Yeah,

I'll have to check that out later Mike Other

Take a breath Mike, let it out slow Other rockin

radios coming this year I believe my buddy Matrix

Prime and I are gonna talk about the new theory

of a dead man album because that's supposed to

be out this year at some point I don't think

there's even any news on that yet And there's

probably gonna be another one or two and obviously

we got mayhem mics episode 25 coming up here

on GCR We've got our nine top nines of the 90s

What are you doing with your podcasting life?

Well currently I am on a I want to say bi -weekly.

It's just I think the last three weeks we haven't

managed to record comic connoisseurs with the

Ben the host Carver and red ink Yeah, we talked

about comic books related stuff comics comic

TV shows stuff like that just life in general

I got really sick last week like this is probably

the third attempt that we made it recording this

particular episode No, no, this is the actual

recording of the episode We never even got to

make an attempt because you're sitting over there

eating tacos from Taco Hell This is like, when

I say the third attempt, that actually succeeded.

Because there was one Friday we were supposed

to record, and then I never heard from Mike.

So that's on you. Hey, I told you my computer.

Nobody pays attention to my social media. I sit

here and said, oh my god, my computer died. And

then you died from eating Taco Hell. And then

you died from Taco Hell dogs. Hello, Kentucky.

And then I saw like the next day and then I went

and I It turned out I got a little ill from eating

the Taco Bell that it opened like three days

before here in Saskatoon and And the sad thing

folks is he got ill from Taco Hell the day the

album released Mike you did I got a little ill

a little what really took me out is I got a hell

of a summer cold Because no, it was the it was

the meat that's one grade higher than dog food.

You're not Web ND and it's always cancer So yeah,

we finally go to hell's case. It is always cancer

Whatever. Yeah, so I'm on comic connoisseurs

At least you know, we court every Monday. It's

out later that week also taking part in Our co

-host Red has created a show called Redline Rumbles

where it's basically our It's like death battle

on YouTube. We pick two comic book characters.

We throw them up against each other. We argue

who would win You know, we look at their their

basic gear their fighting style such like that

and recently I joined our friend TV's. Mr. Neil

in recording a commentary for his big bad movie

show And we did G .I. Joe the movie in 1987.

And I had a lot of fun with that. I didn't even

know he was taking guest hosts until I watched

his Transformers the movie thing where he mentioned

you and me at the end there. And I was like,

Oh, put me on this one. Put me on this one. Put

me in coach. But that's what I'm doing. Yeah.

So here's what I suggest, folks. If you're using

iTunes, well first of all, go to Nickelback's

YouTube channel and they have all of the tracks

for Feed the Machine on there as audio, you know,

audio video things, but it's the audio versions

of the tracks with the album art on there. Go

there, listen to them for free. If you'd like

to buy the album or if you're already using Spotify

or whatever other Amazon music service or whatever,

select the tracks that you like. Don't buy the

whole album don't let don't listen. This is the

only Only Nickelback album that was since we've

been doing this that I will specifically say

do not listen to the entire album because it

makes no damn sense With the way that it's presented

So We're gonna get the hell out of here and we're

gonna close Hmm we'll close with must be nice

might as well Because I already put coin for

the firm in here somewhere and then we had that

weird Taylor Swift Chad Kroger coupling earlier.

So there is that Unleash the geek in you and

we will catch you next time