riffs to prove they can rock circles around peers such as Limp Bizkit and fellow Bostonians Godsmack. Then Aaron Lewis takes the mike, and although his pained tunefulness and heart-on-sleeve lyrics don't exactly rewrite misery rock's rules, they do assert Staind as the grim genre's most song-oriented, downright sensitive band in years. As already demonstrated by "Outside," the acoustic hit from the Family Values Tour 1999 album, Staind don't need to split eardrums to open hearts. "I just needed someone to talk to," Lewis sings in "Fade," one of several woe-is-me tracks that would be wimpy if his buddies didn't kick butt. His sincerity is disarming -- and sometimes a little artless, as if he lifted rants directly from his diary. But the candid confessions and folksy melodiousness of "It's Been Awhile" nearly attain the poetic grace of a misery-rock milestone, Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun." With hits like this, Staind may become the first new-metal band to break the generational barrier as they cross over to pop radio. What will they whine about then? (RS 870 - June 7, 2001)

BARRY WALTERS