Hailing from Canada, the four-piece band (their lyricist, Mark Jennings, is not credited with any instrumentation) 13 Wyde (http://www.13wyde.com) deliver well-crafted post-grunge rock without the Nickelback melodrama.
The roots of 13 Wyde are fairly obvious, namely the early '90s heyday of Seattle grunge but also the epic rock of Blue Oyster Cult and Queensryche. "I Am the Dawn" pushes the vocals of Kevin Bardy up front. You can definitely hear a little Chris Cornell and Gavin Rossdale in his singing, especially in its raspiness. The words are fairly simple, nothing as ambitious or enigmatic as Kurt Cobain's; however, they get the point across without any sort of pretension.
"Ice Blue You" resurrects the stop/start dynamics and guitar fuzz of Nirvana without sounding like a clone. Amidst the glut of emo worshippers, what a relief it is to hear angst without the adolescent yelling. "River Deep" has an older AOR feel; slowing the tempo a bit, 13 Wyde allows their sharp melodic instincts to cut through the fingerprints of their heroes.
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On the second half of the record, 13 Wyde begin to drift into bluesy textures (check out the scorching licks on "Invisible") and darker landscapes, such as on "Break the Chains," which recalls early Creed.
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