''The Fallout'' is the debut studio album by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Default Default may refer to: Law * Default (law), the failure to do something required by law ** Default (finance), failure to satisfy the terms of a loan obligation or failure to pay back a loan ** Default judgment, a binding judgment in favor of eit ...

, released on October 2, 2001.

Chad Kroeger Chad Robert Kroeger (, Turton; born November 15, 1974) is a Canadian musician who is best known for being the lead singer, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and founding member of the rock band Nickelback. In addition to his work with Nic ...

, the

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Nickelback Nickelback is a Canadian Rock music, rock band formed in 1995 in Hanna, Alberta, Hanna, Alberta. Throughout its history, it has consisted of lead guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Ryan ...

, contributed to the album's production and co-wrote six of its songs including its second

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. With two hit

s, ''The Fallout'' is widely considered Default's best work and was their biggest commercial success, gaining platinum certification in the United States. The song " Wasting My Time" received much airplay throughout 2001 and 2002. The second single, " Deny", was featured on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the popular '' NHL 2003'' game by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...

and also received a great deal of air time, helping launch Default into the mainstream of Canadian rock. A special edition of this CD, alongside a DVD, included the bonus track "Blind" and acoustic versions of the lead singles "Deny" and "Wasting My Time". An acoustic version of the final track, "Let You Down", also served as the final track to Default's sophomore effort, ''

Elocation ''Elocation'' is the second studio album by Canadian hard rock band Default. It was released on November 25, 2003, by TVT Records. The rock album spawned three singles, including the song "(Taking My) Life Away", which aired on Muzak's Power Roc ...

''.

Critical reception

''The Fallout'' received mixed reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

s who were skeptical of the band's musicianship being similar to other bands of its given genre. Stephanie Dickison of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' gave praise to the album's professional yet naturally sounding production and Dallas Smith's performance for giving off the right amount of energy in his notes despite being a bit jovial at times, but felt the band would face problems being similar to

3 Doors Down 3 Doors Down is an American Rock music, rock band from Escatawpa, Mississippi that formed in 1996. The band's music is described as post-grunge, alternative rock, and hard rock. The band's 2000 debut single "Kryptonite (3 Doors Down song), Kr ...

, Lifehouse and

, saying that "For a debut, it is excellent. But up against the other heavy-guitar, heartily vocalized bands like the aforementioned, they have their work cut out for them." Andy Hinds of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

highlighted the first three tracks as standouts but found the album overall to be devoid of originality in its borrowing of grunge music, saying it "provides a non-threatening option for those who seek the stylistic affectations of grunge rock, but wish to avoid all of the substance or excitement of its first generation." David Browne, writing for ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', noticed a slight difference between this and

Puddle of Mudd Puddle of Mudd is an American post-grunge band formed in Kansas City, Missouri in 1992. The band has sold over seven million albums. Their major-label debut, '' Come Clean'' (2001), spawned the single " Blurry", which peaked at number 5 on the ...

's '' Come Clean'' apart from taking elements of grunge into their respective albums: "Default’s debut, ''The Fallout'', is more up-tempo and burly, yet they still manage to use the word never 32 times in one cut (”Slow Me Down”). The song titles – ”Sick and Tired,” ”Wasting My Time,” ”Live a Lie” – say it all."

Track listing

Personnel

Default *

Dallas Smith Dallas Hendry Smith (born December 4, 1977) is a Canadian singer and songwriter, who performs both as a solo country music artist and as lead singer for the hard rock band Default. He is currently signed to Big Loud Records. Smith is the curr ...

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

* Jeremy James Hora –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, backing vocals * Dave Benedict –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Danny Craig –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Additional musicians *

Rick Parashar Rakesh "Rick" Parashar (December 13, 1963 – August 14, 2014) was an American record producer, recording engineer and musician. Along with his brother Raj, he founded London Bridge Studio in Seattle, Washington, in 1985. During his career he wo ...

–

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

(track 8) Artwork * Benjamin Wheelock – album design * Blake Little – Photography Production * Rick Parashar – producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, and mixing (tracks 1, 3, 8) * Kip Beelman – engineer and Pro-Tools engineer (tracks 1, 3, 8) *

Kelly Gray Kelly Gray (born April 7, 1981, in Palo Alto, California) is a former American soccer player. He does commentary for San Jose Earthquakes games on Comcast Sports Net Bay Area Career College Gray played Striker (association football), forward a ...

– mixing (tracks 1, 3, 8) * Chad Kroeger – producer (tracks 2, 4-7, 9-12) *

Joey Moi Joey Moi (born August 9, 1975) is a Canadian record producer, audio engineer, mixer, songwriter, and musician. He is known for his work with the rock groups Nickelback and My Darkest Days, and country music acts Chris Lane, Dallas Smith, Florida G ...

– engineer and mixing (tracks 2, 4-7, 9-14) * Jamie Stirr – 2nd engineer (tracks 2, 4-7, 9-12) * Joe Spivak – 2nd engineer and digital engineer (tracks 2, 4-7, 9-12) *

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...

– mastering * Leonard B. Johnson - A&R

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Limited edition DVD

Wasting My Time
(Video)"
Deny
(Video)" #"Deny (Live)" #"Rockumentary"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fallout, The 2001 debut albums Default (band) albums TVT Records albums Albums produced by Rick Parashar Albums recorded at Greenhouse Studios