Metal Underground.com

With an Alice in Chains-meets-Korn heaviness, Taproot has come up with a mostly winning outing on "The Episodes," the band's sixth full-length record. Sure, it's basically the same post-grunge growl the band is known for — they just get it done better this time.

Frankly, the sheer heaviness of the guitars on this album probably excuses a lot of sins. The riffs are never all that memorable, but they're delivered with such volume and force that you'll be blown back in your seat the first time you hear tracks like "A Golden Grey" and "Good Morning."

Singer Stephen Richards alternates between a double-tracked Layne Staley style on tracks like the aforementioned "Good Morning" and "A Golden Grey," while sounding quite a bit like Korn's Jonathan Davis on the whispery "Around the Bend." His lyrics are much better this time than on outings like "Our Long Road Home." "The Everlasting," in particular, is splendidly creepy as "the radio chokes out my favorite song."

One thing that happens way too much on the album, though, is what seems to be the use of a Speak 'n Spell to deliver long spoken-word passages. It works OK in "Good Morning," but when it's repeated later in the album, it starts to feel quite silly. There's some other ambient noise thrown in that also seems rather pointless, including the burst of static that ends "We Don't Belong Here," the final track on the album.

No, Taproot isn't exactly reinventing the wheel with "The Episodes," but the album is a solid, heavy entry in the band's canon. If you're looking for some good post-grunge metal, this one will do the trick.