Sister Hazel: Fortress : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Sister Hazel excel in what adult-contemporary fans call "tunes" -- basic, digestible songs that go down well with a pint and a good friend. It's a formula done right by this Gainesville, Florida, quintet, which went platinum in 1998 with its second album of jangling boogie, . . . Somewhere More Familiar. Fortress could be called Another Place Equally Familiar, because it thoroughly recaptures its predecessor's wailing guitar jams, vocalist Ken Block's Southern-grunge affectations and his narratives lionizing wayward women and their hard-living men. Arena-rock trifles such as "Save Me" fall as flat as pancake batter. But "Your Winter" convincingly portrays a relationship on the rocks, replete with sad, sprawling guitar and lyrics ("Why do you chew your pain?") that speak of a love-damaged mind. Fortress offers enough to satisfy faithful Hazelnuts, but don't expect the band to win any converts. (RS 847)

NEVA CHONIN