Silvery Metalists

Like the piercing pain in the gut that follows a heartbreaking loss, the dark, emotive sounds of Massachusetts metal quartet Staind stay with you long after you hear them.

The band’s soul-baring lyrics of isolation, anger and confusion are a huge part of its appeal, but it’s Staind’s ability to mesh infectious melodies with raw yet lustrous vocals and expressive guitar work that made its “Break the Cycle” one of the most anticipated rock albums of the year.

The collection on Flip/Elektra Records entered the national sales chart at No. 1 this week with sales of more than 717,000 copies, the second-highest first-week total of the year.

“We started to hear about the Staind record from our stores a few weeks ago, so we knew the demand was there,” Bob Bell, senior rock buyer for the Wherehouse Music chain, said this week. “But I don’t think anybody anticipated this strong a showing.”

Staind’s dramatic success is largely due to the mega-rocker who discovered it almost four years ago, Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst.

Say what you will about the baseball-cap-wearing star’s own musical abilities, but when it comes to finding untapped talent, he’s proving to be quite the scout.

He not only helped bring Staind to Los Angeles-based Flip Records (which releases Limp Bizkit’s albums in association with Interscope), but he has also aided such other bands as Cold and Puddle of Mudd, both of which are playing dates on Staind’s latest tour. It’s no wonder powerhouse Interscope named him in 1999 a senior vice president of A&R.;

Thanks to relentless touring, Staind’s more raucous 1999 album “Dysfunction” sold more than 1.1 million copies, creating a substantial fan base waiting for the new album.

But it was an impromptu decision by Durst that ultimately set the stage for “Cycle” to produce such smashing figures.

On the last night of the Bizkit-headlined Family Values Tour in 1999, Staind singer Aaron Lewis and Durst were going to sing a song together.

“At the last minute Fred suggested we do this song, ‘Outside,’ that I had played for him a while back,” remembers Lewis, 29. “I only had a chorus and had always kept changing the words for the song, so I had to make up these verses as I went.”

The spontaneous, acoustic-guitar-backed collaboration was included as a bonus track on “The Family Values Tour 1999” album, but it was such a pure and passionate piece of musical anguish that it seemed to bleed through the radio every time it was played. It became an unexpected hit, reaching No. 1 on Billboard’s mainstream rock chart and Radio & Records’ alternative rock chart. The video also gained frequent airplay on MTV.

Even though the band’s earlier compositions are decidedly more aggressive, they also have a similarly languid flow, showcasing the vocalist’s fervent croon and stirring songwriting style. Bizkit wannabes they’re definitely not.

“I grew up with folk music,” says Lewis, a Rutland, Vt., native who moved often with his parents, eventually ending up in Springfield, Mass., in his teens. “I’ve always loved to sing and do melodic stuff, but I had to learn how to scream.”

Like many kids in the ‘80s, Lewis and guitarist Mike Mushok, 32, who met in 1993, discovered the invigorating ferocity of heavy metal, but each retained a ballad-driven sensibility. They came up with an enticing balance of harmony and heaviness, but their originals often took a back seat to the renditions of familiar hits by the likes of Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains demanded by the club operators in Springfield.

After playing around Springfield for about 2 1/2 years, the band--also consisting of Johnny April on bass and Jon Wysocki on drums--caught its key break. A friend’s group was opening for Limp Bizkit in Hartford, Conn., in late ‘97, and there was an extra slot on the bill. The friend invited Staind to fill the vacancy.

The initial contact with Durst was a bit awkward.

“Our record at the time had a Bible with a knife pierced through it on the cover,” recalls Mushok, referring to the band’s self-released debut album, “Tormented” (currently available only on its Web site, https://www.staind.com). “Fred was seriously offended by it.”

Still, Durst liked the band’s music that night, and Mushok followed up a few weeks later by sending him a copy of the band’s new demo tape. Durst invited the band to meet with him in his Jacksonville, Fla., home.

Durst then introduced the band to Jordan Schur, president and owner of Flip Records.

“My goal when I founded Flip was to sign significant, groundbreaking bands, and when I heard Staind I thought this could be like Limp Bizkit, like Korn, like Rage Against the Machine, like Tool--another one of those unbelievable, very important bands,” Schur says. “They combine timeless melodies with a hard, aggressive style. No other band has taken the best elements of both the way Staind has.”

“Dysfunction,” co-produced by Durst, Staind and Terry Date, was released in April 1999 by Flip in association with Elektra Records. Tours opening for such headliners as Kid Rock and Monster Magnet followed, with Staind eventually booked as the opening act on the annual metal and hip-hop Family Values Tour in the fall of ’99.

They had been touring for 18 months straight before recording “Break the Cycle,” which was produced by Josh Abraham (who has worked the likes of Orgy and Crazy Town). “We just kind of wanted to stand on our own two feet for this one,” says Lewis about the change of producers. “At the end when [Durst] heard it, he had a couple of suggestions here and there. We tried them, and if they worked we ran with it; if they didn’t, we left it the way it was.”

Though the band felt the need to do more things on its own, the members have never tried to detach themselves from their famous ally. Durst has directed three of their videos, including “It’s Been Awhile.”

Lewis describes Staind’s sonic and lyrical evolution as “a documented growing process.” Indeed, “Cycle,” which includes a new studio version of “Outside,” showcases even more clearly than the group’s previous releases Lewis’ brooding, introspective style. But it also retains enough razor-sharp riffs and thrashing crescendos to hold its own against any of the nu-metal releases out right now.

Despite the rapid rise and fall typical of bands these days, Schur, who is now also president of Geffen Records, says Staind has the ability to survive.

“I liken it to when Nirvana pushed Michael Jackson off the charts,” he says. “It’s very significant. The buzz and demand is bigger than the hype. The kids already knew about them from constant touring and cassette giveaways, and radio picked up on ‘Outside’ all on its own. Their success happened 1000% naturally. . . . They’re not some disposable heroes, they’re candidates for greatness. They’re gonna open new minds and new doors.”