A 3 year gap and a shift change in the bass player department didn't slow Living Colour down a bit as they delivered their leanest and most focused album to date in Stain. Shaded more noticeably in metal and grunge influences than anything they had released before, Stain is focused less on breaking through the color barrier of the rock world than it is in showing everyone what Living Colour can do when their sole concern is making music that only they can make. Well, maybe not only they can make, but they certainly have a unique take on the downtuned grunge sound that pervaded the early 90s.
What's more surprising about Stain, though, is how little Living Colour's sound actually changed. The big choruses and foot-tapping hooks came along for the ride, as well as the insanely tight rhythm section of Will Calhoun and new recruit Doug Wimbish (bass duties previously provided by Muzz Skillings) while the whole package is glued together with guitarist Vernon Reid's iconoclastic riffwork and solos, which have never sounded better. Song after song he delivers high-bar guitar work, particularly on the tracks that bridge into solo sections that have a level of groove not seen recorded outside of a King's X album - see "Ignorance Is Bliss" and "Never Satisfied" for ample evidence. Reid's playing recalls John Petrucci's on a raw technical level but his style is purely in the service of the riff on Stain as he pivots effortlessly between heavy blues ("Mind Your Own Business") industrial thrash ("Auslander", "This Little Pig") and even a couple of lower key pieces ("Nothingness", "Bi"). Nearly a quarter of an hour shorter than its predecessor Time's Up, Stain took a hot knife to Living Colour's progressive excess and revealed a filthy, funky skeleton beneath.
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