Some impressive riffs on here, especially in the second half, and I respect its sheer volume for a record this radio friendly but I don't care for the songwriting and vocals all that much. I prefer my hair metal less melodic and with just a little more grit, which is a bit counterintuitive to the very concept - can see the appeal nonetheless.

Heard it before, classic 2000s indie rock. Going back to it I am struck by the intelligibility of the lyrics compared to much of the material coming to comparable acts today like Black Country New Road. I also forgot how bone chilling In The Backseat is, easily one of the greatest closers for a rock album ever.

Lush, moody, atmospheric, gentle. I'm not very familiar with downtempo as an electronic music sub genre but this seems like a good place to start, I could really distinguish its sound from the various trip hop/IDM/plunderphonics styles of the 90s whilst hearing some pleasant interactions with them. Had a good time.

No. Look, Frusciante and Flea sure know their stuff but Kiedis' rapping quickly turns this thing into a real slog to get through. It's not even on every song but if I have to sit through even half of it on a 73 minute album, it's too much. I like Breaking the Girl and some of jamming, that's about it.