A bloody Barbie doll on a crucifix almost cost Staind their big break
In short: Before they became radio staples, Staind self-released Tormented, a raw, aggressive metal debut that nearly derailed their career. The album's grotesque cover art, featuring a crucified doll and a Bible impaled by a knife, so horrified Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst that he initially tried to ban the band from performing.
Released in 1996, Tormented was the product of a band trying to carve out a space in the Boston hardcore scene. Vocalist Aaron Lewis and guitarist Mike Mushok, who met at a Christmas party in 1993, formed the band in Springfield, Massachusetts, by late 1995. The album was a deeply personal project for Lewis, who drew on his own experiences with depression, bullying, and a difficult upbringing in a Vermont trailer park. Critics have described the record as a concept album following a depressed individual toward suicide, a theme reinforced by spoken-word segments and sound effects like gunshots.
The album's aesthetic was intentionally provocative. The cover art, which depicted a buried person with a rosary and a blood-smeared Bible, was so difficult to produce that the band had to reschedule their own release party because no printer would touch it. When the band finally met Fred Durst in October 1997, he mistook their dark imagery for Theistic Satanism. However, after witnessing their live performance, Durst was sufficiently impressed to sign them to Flip Records by February 1998, eventually producing their follow-up, Dysfunction.
Musically, Tormented was a departure from the band's later, softer sound. It featured heavy, grunge-influenced metal with screaming vocals that drew comparisons to Pantera. While the band sold about 2,000 copies in the first year, the album's legacy remains complex; guitarist Mike Mushok has since admitted he finds it difficult to listen to. Despite its niche status, the album served as a vital, if gritty, foundation for the band, with tracks like 'Mudshuvel' later being re-recorded to become major hits as the band shifted toward a more mainstream alternative metal style.
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