Audio Secrecy

Audio Secrecy
Studio album by Stone Sour
Released	September 7, 2010
Recorded	2010 at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Genre	Alternative metal, post-grunge, alternative rock, hard rock
Length	54:04 65:17 (digipack edition), 68:32 (iTunes pre-order special edition)
Label	Roadrunner
Producer	Nick Raskulinecz
Stone Sour chronology
Live in Moscow (2007) Audio Secrecy (2010)
Singles from Audio Secrecy
"Mission Statement" Released: June 21, 2010 "Say You'll Haunt Me" Released: July 13, 2010 "Digital (Did You Tell)" Released: November 5, 2010 (UK, US, Japan) "Hesitate" Released: February 11, 2011 (Germany, France, Italy)

Audio Secrecy is the third studio album by American rock band Stone Sour. It was recorded and produced by the band and Nick Raskulinecz at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. On June 10, the band released a free download of "Mission Statement", which was later released as a single on iTunes. The first official single, "Say You'll Haunt Me", however, was released on July 6, 2010. Audio Secrecy is also the first album by the band to not feature a 'Parental Advisory' sticker.

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Audio Secrecy"	1:43
2.	"Mission Statement"	3:50
3.	"Digital (Did You Tell)"	4:00
4.	"Say You'll Haunt Me"	4:24
5.	"Dying"	3:01
6.	"Let's Be Honest"	3:44
7.	"Unfinished"	3:10
8.	"Hesitate"	4:16
9.	"Nylon 6/6"	3:38
10.	"Miracles"	4:07
11.	"Pieces"	4:30
12.	"The Bitter End"	3:33
13.	"Imperfect"	4:22
14.	"Threadbare"	5:46
Total length:		54:04

CD & DVD digipack content
No.	Title	Length
15.	"Hate Not Gone"	3:50
16.	"Anna"	3:29
17.	"Home Again"	3:54
18.	"Saturday Mourning" (US iTunes pre-order/German iTunes bonus track)	3:15
Total length:		68:32

DVD (The Making of Audio Secrecy)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Intro"
2.	"Mission Statement"
3.	"Audio Secrecy"
4.	"The New Album"
5.	"Scratch Vocals"
6.	"Fan Questions #1"
7.	"In the Studio"
8.	"Drums"
9.	"Josh's Gear"
10.	"Fan Questions #2"
11.	"Randomness"
12.	"The Songs"
13.	"Outro"
14.	"Mission Statement (Live at Download 2010)"	4:04
15.	"Made of Scars (Live at Download 2010)"	4:27
16.	"Hell & Consequences (Live at Download 2010)"	3:31

Unreleased songs

At least two more songs were created during the Audio Secrecy recording sessions. One of them is called "The Pessimist". The song is mentioned in the official Stone Sour biography. "For guitarist Josh Rand, the track 'The Pessimist' holds a special significance. 'It's the heaviest song we've done up to this point. I spent a day and a half studying the Hindu scale for the lead. The guitar solo for that song has a very Eastern sound.' The song sees Rand shredding with a precise, powerful solo that's melodic and metallic. All the while, it preserves a unique feel."^[1] Rand stated that they will release the song in the future, but they don't know when or how yet.^{[citation needed]} "The Pessimist" is on the soundtrack of Transformers: Dark of the Moon as an iTunes exclusive track.

There's also a recording of a spoken word by Corey Taylor, just like "Omega" and "The Frozen" on the previous records. A statement about this by Corey Taylor on MTV UK on Twitter: "I recorded one but we just decided not to release it ~Corey".^{[citation needed]}

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[2]
Allmusic	[3]
Amazon.com	[4]
Associated Press	(Positive)[5]
Evigshed	[6]
Kerrang	[7]
Rocksound	[8]
411mania.com	[9]
Ultimate Guitar	(9.2/10)[10]

Audio Secrecy received generally positive reviews from music critics. Tim Grierson of About.com compared the band to Slipknot stating that Stone Sour delivers loud and powerful love songs and that the album in whole displayed Corey Taylor's flexibility in music.^[2] Gregory Heaney of Allmusic praised Taylor's voice stating that he has made full use of his voice "from guttural to soaring". He also related the "chugging guitar" work of the album to that of Deftones.^[3]

Lenny Vowels, a senior critic of 411mania.com awarded the album seven out of ten stars summarizing his review by stating "Stone Sour's newest record does seem to yearn for new heights, but for some reason can't quite reach them. The mood is definitely darker than their previous two albums, though that doesn't mean it's better. Basically, what's good on the album is great, and while nothing's bad, the rest doesn't come off as anything special either. In the band's personal history, I'd rank it above Come What(ever) May overall, but their self-titled album still leads the pack. Either way, this record is worth having if you're a fan of the band, but don't expect much in the way of new."^[9]

Sales

Audio Secrecy debuted in the top 10 in various countries. In the US it sold 46,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No.6 on the Billboard 200.^[11]

Chart positions

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Australian Albums Chart[12]	6
Austrian Albums Chart[13]	5
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[14]	28
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[15]	31
Canadian Albums Chart[16]	6
Finnish Albums Chart[17]	23
French Albums Chart[18]	29
German Albums Chart[19]	3
German LP-Downloads Chart[20]	6
Greek Albums Chart[21]	24
Irish Albums Chart[22]	19
Italian Albums Chart[23]	89
Dutch Albums Chart[24]	16
New Zealand Albums Chart[25]	12
Spanish Albums Chart[26]	94
Swedish Albums Chart[27]	10
Swiss Albums Chart[28]	7
UK Albums Chart[29]	6
UK Rock Chart	1
Billboard 200[16]	6
Alternative Albums Chart[16]	2
Digital Albums Chart[16]	5
Hard Rock Albums Chart[16]	2
Rock Albums Chart[16]	2
Tastemakers Albums Chart[16]	6

Personnel

Stone Sour Corey Taylor - lead vocals, guitar, piano, guitar solo on "Pieces" James Root - lead guitar, keyboard Josh Rand - rhythm guitar Shawn Economaki - bass guitar Roy Mayorga - drums, percussions, piano on "Say You'll Haunt Me" and "Nylon 6/6"

Production Nick Raskulinecz - producer, engineering Ted Jensen - mastering Chris Lord-Alge - mixing Randy Staub - mixing Zach Blackstone - assistant mixing Paul Fig - engineering Nathan Yarborough - assistant engineering Monte Conner - A&R Pete Ganbarg - A&R Steve Blacke - strings arrangement, strings John Nicholson - drum technician P.R. Brown - art direction, design, photography

References

1. ^ "Biography". Stone Sour. http://www.stonesour.com/board_posts/artist-bio. Retrieved 2011-03-31. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Grierson, Tim "Stone Sour - 'Audio Secrecy' Review" Retrieved 2010-09-08
3. ^ ^{a b} Heany, Gregory "Audio Secrey Overview". Retrieved 2010-09-07
4. ^ "Audio Secrecy" Retrieved 2010-09-07
5. ^ Harris, Ron "Review: Stone Sour packs punch on 'Audio Secrecy'" Retrieved 2010-09-07
6. ^ Sylgraph "Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy Review" Retrieved 2010-09-07
7. ^ Winwood, Ian "Slipknots Men's 'Other' Band Return With Imposing Third Album Retrieved 2010-09-04
8. ^ Kerswell, Ronnie "Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy". Retrieved 2010-09-07
9. ^ ^{a b} Vowels, Lenny "Stone Sour - Audio Secrecy Review" Retrieved 2010-09-07
10. ^ Ultimate Guitar Team "Audio Secrecy Review" Retrieved 2010-09-09
11. ^ "Sara Bareilles, Stone Sour Earn Top 10 Debuts". http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=1952962. 
12. ^ "Discography Stone Sour". australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
13. ^ "Discographie Stone Sour" (in German). austriancharts.at. http://austriancharts.at/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
14. ^ "Discografie Stone Sour". ultratop.be. http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
15. ^ "Discographie Stone Sour". ultratop.be. http://www.ultratop.be/fr/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
16. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Audio Secrecy - Stone Sour". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/album/stone-sour/audio-secrecy/1389429. 
17. ^ "Discography Stone Sour". finnishcharts.com. http://finnishcharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
18. ^ "Discographie Stone Sour" (in French). lescharts.com. http://lescharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
19. ^ "Tarja und Brandon Flowers: Charts-Erfolge auch ohne Band - media control". Media-control.de. 2010-09-14. http://www.media-control.de/tarja-und-brandon-flowers-charts-erfolge-auch-ohne-band.html. Retrieved 2011-03-31. 
20. ^ "Brandon Flowers: Ab in die Download-Charts - media control". Media-control.de. 2010-09-17. http://www.media-control.de/brandon-flowers-ab-in-die-download-charts.html. Retrieved 2011-03-31. 
21. ^ "Discography Stone Sour". greekcharts.com. http://greekcharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
22. ^ "Discography Stone Sour". irish-charts.com. http://irish-charts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
23. ^ "FIMI - Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana - Classifiche". Fimi.it. http://www.fimi.it/classifiche_artisti.php. Retrieved 2011-03-31. 
24. ^ "Discografie Stone Sour" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. http://dutchcharts.nl/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
25. ^ "Discography Stone Sour". charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
26. ^ "Discography Stone Sour". spanishcharts.com. http://spanishcharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
27. ^ "Discography Stone Sour". swedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
28. ^ "Discography Stone Sour". swisscharts.com. http://swisscharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Stone+Sour. 
29. ^ Zywietz, Tobias. "Chart Log UK". Zobbel. http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_S.HTM.