''Welcome'' is the second major label album by American

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With r ...

band

Taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

. It was released on October 15, 2002. "

Poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

" served as the album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

and became a smash hit, propelling the group to stardom. A follow-up single, "

Mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

," was produced and its video was directed by

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

bassist

Shavo Odadjian Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian ( hy, Շավարշ "Շավո" Օդաջյան; born April 22, 1974) is an Armenian-American musician, best known as the bassist of heavy metal band System of a Down. He also plays bass in a trap group called North Kingsl ...

. The third single and video was announced for "Art," but curiously Atlantic pulled the plug soon after the announcement, further irking fans who claimed the label was holding Taproot back. ''Welcome'' remains Taproot's most successful record, selling around 450,000 copies.Taproot Gets Back To The Studio
Investors.WMG.com (2005). Retrieved on 9-21-08. The band performed on the second part of Disturbed's

Music as a Weapon Tour Music as a Weapon is a series of concert tours created by the American metal band Disturbed. There have been seven editions of the tour, five in North America and two in Australasia. The name of the tour is from the lyrics of "Droppin' Plates" on ...

in promotion of the album.

Production

During a break in their intense touring schedule in support of their debut album, ''

Gift A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation ...

'', Taproot went to Los Angeles to record several demos with Toby Wright. Those tracks were "Poem to Self", "Remain", "Get Me", "When", and "Transparent". Bolstered by their new recordings, the band featured "Poem to Self", "Transparent", and "Get Me" on tour during 2001, with "Poem to Self" soon becoming one of their most popular songs. During the early development of ''Welcome'', Taproot had given producer

Toby Wright Toby Wright is an American record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with artists such as Alice in Chains, Metallica, Sevendust and Korn. Credits Producer * 3rd Strike - '' Lost Angel'' * 8stops7 - ''In Moderation'' *Alice in Chains ...

roughly 40 complete songs. Wright said that while they were good, the songs were not up to the band's potential, and he forced them to start from scratch. Several earlier tracks were reworked for the album, while the bulk of the material was discarded. Some of the demos include "Can't Believe", "Poem to Self", "Sumtimes", "Remain", "Strive", "Free", "Fort", "Like", "Promise", "When", "Transparent", "Contradiction", "Keep Your Head Up", "Not a Quitter", "Fault", "Get Me", "Can You", "Indecisive", "Myself", and "Dreams". This was initially met with resentment from the band, but they ultimately wrote entirely new songs that they felt show greater maturity.Wiederhorn, Jon
"Taproot's Second Album is Really Their Third ... Kind of"

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

.com (October 21, 2002). Retrieved on June 3, 2008. One of the most prominent songs to survive the fresh batch was "Poem," which had seen prior success after being debuted by the band during concerts, such as Ozzfest 2001, and went on to be arguably Taproot's most well known single. Other songs that were refined with Toby Wright from earlier demos include "When", "Fault", "Sumtimes", and "Like". As with many Toby Wright productions, songs throughout ''Welcome'' are heavy on multi-tracked vocals and layered guitars. While many of their early demos were not recorded for this effort, Taproot did re-record "Remain", "Transparent", and "Free" with Toby Wright. Some of these tracks were included on foreign releases of the album as a bonus track as well as the Poem single, and were later posted to the band's official MySpace page. "Remain", however, would remain unreleased until it was included in the band's 2018 boxset ''Besides''.

Reception

Critical response to ''Welcome'' was largely mixed. Various prominent media critics considered the album too mediocre to stand out among current

and

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...

acts. However, melodic improvements from Taproot's prior effort were also cited.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Brian O'Neill also compared the band's stylistic "idolatry" as a shift from

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Originally formed in 1993 ...

Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

. Robert Cherry of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' cited the "me, me, me" lyrics as evidence of needed maturity but added that ''Welcome'' "marks a self-preserving transition from new metal to

art metal Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

." The publication also cited Taproot as one of the "Bands to Watch in 2002."

CMJ New Music Report CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

described the album as a combination of Korn and Alice in Chains. (October 21, 2002). Retrieved on October 10, 2015

Track listing

According to the lyric booklet, there are also alternative titles to some of these tracks The band also recorded three additional songs during the ''Welcome'' sessions. Two of them, "Transparent" (4:23) and "Free" (3:23), can both be found on the ''Poem'' CD single as B-sides and on the Japanese pressing of ''Welcome'' as

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

s. The lyrics to "Free" can still be found in the lyric booklet of ''Welcome'' The third track, "Remain", would be released with the other two on the 2018 box set ''Besides''.

Credits

Taproot *Mike DeWolf - guitarWelcome - Taproot > Credits
Allmusic. Retrieved March 19, 2011 *Phil Lipscomb - bass *Jarrod Montague - drums * Stephen Richards - guitar, vocals Production *Tom Baker - mastering *David Benveniste - A&R, executive producer *Elliott Blakey - engineer *Steve Sisco - mixing assistant *Tom Storms - A&R *Valente Torrez - assistant engineer *

Jeff Turzo Jeff Turzo, as singer/programming and songwriting/production partner in the electro-rock band God Lives Underwater (GLU), spent the better part of the 1990s as a producer and touring artist, first signed by Rick Rubin to American Recordings in ...

- digital programming * Andy Wallace - mixing *

- engineer, producer Art direction *Christina Dittmar *

Charts

Album Singles - Billboard (North America)

References

{{Authority control Taproot (band) albums 2002 albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Toby Wright