The Long Road (2003)

Image credit: Nickelback: Mick Hutson/Redferns/Retna

'LONG ROAD' AHEAD? Nickelback's new album is better than some suggest

You won't find many members of C.R.E.T.I.N.S. (Cabal of Rock Elitists Tethered to Insular Notions and Semiotics) singing the praises of Nickelback. A year or two ago, on a record-buying excursion with Jack ''Li'l Oz'' Osbourne, I observed the effect the mere sight of Nickelback's 2001 album, ''Silver Side Up,'' could have on a rock fan. ''Doesn't he look like he's about 45 years old?'' asked Jack the Lad with a derisive sneer, referring to goateed vocalist Chad Kroeger. Meanwhile, only the other day, a colleague dismissed the 'back boys as ''the Canadian Creed,'' implying that both their nationality and their sound were risible.

Having tendered my resignation from the above-named organization, I unabashedly admit that I think Nickelback's new CD, The Long Road, is a ripping good spin. It offers a heaping helping of meat-and-potatoes rawk that never veers far from the sing-along template established by their hit ''How You Remind Me.'' The band hammers each song home with a single-minded fervor, cannily melding metal, grunge, and melody. As a singer, Kroeger possesses that rarest of latter-day rock-star commodities: an instantly identifiable voice imbued with passion and edge. Even when he's not exactly being profound (''Believe it or not/Everyone/Has things that they hide''), he convinces you he believes every word. And ''Feelin' Way Too Damn Good'' -- which notes that exultation is usually followed by emotional letdown -- just feels damn universal; it's got hit writ large all over it. When he's not being a philosopher, Kroeger can get as down and dirty as any other heavy metal horndog. On ''Figured You Out,'' he sings, ''I like your pants around your feet/And I like the dirt that's on your knees,'' perhaps the lustiest opening gambit since AC/DC's ''You Shook Me All Night Long.'' Hey, only a cretin would deny genius like that.