Stone Temple Pilots Return to Their HardRock Roots on the Heavy No. 4: Brendan O’Brien-Produced Album Explores Dark Themes, Includes the Hit Single “Sour Girl” Hear the 1999 Record in Audiophile Sound for the First Time on Disc: Mobile Fidelity’s Numbered-Edition Hybrid SACD Plays with Stellar Dynamics, Presence, and Fullness Dismissed as down-and-out by naysayers due to vocalist Scott Weiland’s legal issues, Stone Temple Pilots fired a loud shot across the bow in 1999 in the form of No. 4.

Blending the strengths of the quartet’s three prior LPs while marking a return to its hardrock roots, the platinum-certified record stands as the heaviest of the California ensemble’s career. That it succeeded while flying in the face of trends underlines its significance and appeal. Massive riffs drive tracks such as the grinding “Down,” stormy “Heaven & Hot Rods,” and vitriolic “Sex & Violence.” These and other songs bulldoze and plow, their muscular arrangements caked with thick sludge and aluminum tones, their sinister moods draped in distortion. Sourced from the original analog tapes and housed in mini-LPstyle gatefold packaging, Mobile Fidelity’s hybrid SACD presents No. 4. in audiophile quality for the first time on disc. It plays with a combination of enhanced liveliness, fullness, and solidity that raises the profile of an album that contains a wealth of colors, dynamics, and subtle accents that demand transparent resolution. Rest assured you’ll get that here — as well as previously obscured imaging and separation. All the better for an edgy, personal set that remains the group’s most uncompromising effort.