Dark Horse

From the opening riff and the lyrics, "Gotta meet the hottie with the million dollar body/ They say it's over budget/ But you'd pay her just to touch it," you pretty much know what you're in for with Nickelback's sixth studio album. This unapologetically loud outing is a denim-clad performance built to blast while tailgating in stadium parking lots. And if the mix sounds even more boisterously radio-friendly than 2005's multi-platinum All The Right Reasons, that's because Nickelback hired Mutt Lange (most noted for his work with AC/DC, Def Leppard, and Bryan Adams) to co-produce Dark Horse. "Burn It To The Ground" is a similarly heavy, post-grunge rocker with pounding rhythms, sinister lyrics, and serpentine melodies. And of course the band returns to the kinds of ballads that made All The Right Reasons so successful. The emotional "Gotta Be Somebody" would do well on a soundtrack to any one of those melodramatic television shows about attractive high school kids, and the catchy "Never Gonna Be Alone" will inevitably be covered by fields of American Idol applicants.