This is a very good album, overall. The progression of Nickelback from Hesher to Curb to the State to Silver Side Up and to The Long Road is fairly straightforward. The guitar plaing becomes more complicated and the singing becomes smoother. The latter is not necessarily a good thing, however. The singing on this album is wonderful, it is rough, and gritty and fits the tone of the album beautifully. Lead singer and frontman Chad Kroeger loses this roughness in his later albums, yet his voice is too rough in earlier albums. To me, his voice is perfect on the State.

Breathe - To me, Breathe is a very remorseful song. The lyrics seem to be coming out of the mouth of someone who is bored of the life they are living. "Who wins /Well who cares/It always ends up the same." The singing is rough, of course, and the guitar playing is at its best in this track. Truly one of the best songs on the album.

Cowboy Hat - Cowboy Hat is one of the best songs on the album. I dont really know what the meaning of the lyrics are, but Chad's voice is just perfect. The percussion is great, as is the guitar. The opening stanza is probably one of my favorites of alltime. Cowboy Hat is extremely catchy and I think would probably have made a better opening track than Breathe.

Leader of Men - Leader of Men, according to Chad Kroeger, is "a song about magic mushrooms." Before I heard that, I didnt pay much attention to the lyrics. But lines like "Tell your friends not to think aloud/Until they swallow/Whisper things into my brain/Your voice sounds so hollow" are a giveaway. This is an enjoyable song to listen to and I can see why its so popular. It is one of my favorites. Though the vocals are not fantastic on this track, the lyrics are outstanding. "I jumped in to save a girl/It was somebody's daughter" is one of my favorite lines in any song.

Old Enough - This is an interesting song. I'm not crazy about it, though it appears to be very popular. The vocals are very good, as is the guitar, but there is something in the overall presentation of this song, perhaps the combination of the vocals and the guitar playing, that doesnt draw me in. The song is a bit strange, and the lyrics are open to interpretation. This is a good song, though its one of my least favorites on the album.

Worthy to Say - Again, according to Chad Kroeger, this is a song "about marijuana." I like this song well enough. I think the song is about more than marijuana though. Nickelback seems to be discussing a growing crime-rate among youth. This track showcases Chad's vocals, and is really quite good, though personally I just cant seem to get into it.

Diggin' This - I dont really like this song. The vocals dont seem to work well with the percussion or the guitar playing. I dont dislike this song so much that I would skip it, and I do sing along with it. The lyrics are very aggressive, and dont really fit the mood of the song: "Did I ask for your input?/

Deep - I'm not crazy about this song either. The lyrics seem somewhat childish, or at least, very immature. "who will be the big men giving some" is just one example. The vocals dont stand out very well, and the whole song is kind of soft and doesnt fit with the rest of the album.

One Last Run - I'm conflicted over this track. I strongly dislike the lyrics, but the vocals and guitar playing are very good. When this song comes on, I tend to ignore what Chad is actually saying, and just listen to his voice, and the sound of the music around him.

Not Leaving Yet - I like this song very much. There are a number of references to Jesus, and christianity, most very obvious such as "Come lie next to me Jesus Christ." The singing is good, Chad is at his best here, and the guitar is perfect, and balances very well with the other instruments. This is a fine song, and one of the best on the album.

Hold Out Your Hand - The lyrics to this song are actually very short, but send a tough message. The song starts out by mentioning the army, and ends with mentioning childless mothers. The connection here shouldnt be too hard to make. This is a very good song, and I really enjoy listening to it.

Leader of Men (Acoustic) - Nickelback is one of the few bands who may be better live then on album. While the acoustic version may not have the harder ending that the album version did, the vocals are rougher and just fantastsic. The guitar playing is perfect and just went perfectly with the vocals.

Overall, this is an excellent album. It loses speed in the middle, but only for a couple of tracks. Nickelback is one of my favorites, and so is the State. I highly recommend this album to anyone.

Before the whole rock sound of the 2000's that includes loud crunching guitars, mindless drum beating, and a lead singer screaming off the top of his lungs for long notes a la Defaut, Theory of a Deadman, Seether, Shinedown, Avenged Sevenfold, and countless others came the Canadian band Nickelback (who I consider the father of our new rock sound).

With grunge dying off in about 1995 led to a 4 year period of great alternative rock, which soon let to this crisp, somewhat over produced sound we have now. The State features some great songs, but some fillers as well, thus the following review:

By far the best song is "Breathe" at the #1 spot. Thankfully it was a single and continues to be a great singalong.

"Leader of Men" the 1st single by the band ever is jsut a step down. The slow beginning eventually picks up into a ruckus chorus. Good lyrics.

I would have to classify "Old Enough" into that filler status. As a radio single, I'd have picked something else because the song seems to be a repetive echo of itself and the lyrics aren't too great.

A bumpy ride with "Worthy to Say" ocillates w/ Chad's voice up and down throughout the song making it a rather nice roller coaster with a few intermissions here and there.

Nothing to special with "Diggin' This" either. Just another song to fit the bill.

"Deep" is rather deep with a Creedesque crunch w/ Chad's voice.

Thankfully "One Last Ride" shows up and you start to really rock to. An instant classic I'd have easily made into a single. It has an uptempo beat to it which lets you just jam out to any time. The drumming is what actually makes this a great song, with a nice solo along w/ some layered guitars.

I could have swear I was hearing a song by Silverchair (particulary "Freaks") with "Not Leavin' Yet". The song is eerily similar to the sound. I wonder if they sampled...hmmm...still since I like Silverchair, this is a good song.

Now "Hold Out Your Hand" might just be a filler if they didn't include that great repeating guitar crunch.

Finishing off is an acoustic version of "Leader of Men" which personally isn't as good as the other regular version, but since I guess they needed to plug that song in your skulls they included it here.

Not as over produced as their later albums, but still a great follow up to Curb (which actually was made in 96). Officially their first major release, State provides some of Nickelback's rawest and finest songs, but still some mindless fillers.

I have Ownewd this cd for a month or so now and i was recently reading through the reveiws on this great site and i was happy to see how 99% of the people felt. They all loved this cd. Then there was 1% of the people who said they hated it. And saying things like "are we all listening to the same cd." I didnt understand that and that is why im writing this review. I will addmit that when my friend first told me of this group Nickelback I went home from school and downloaded some of there music and HATED it. I almost agreed with the one star people. Just for fun I downloaded more and more songs from them. I stared to like them ALOT more. Well ill get to the point. I went to my local music store and i bought the cd. At the time i bought it i was a big fan. I listend through the cd and i thought it was good. I listened to it again and again and everytime i hear something new that i really like and it makes me want to listen to it again. Somedays i listen to this cd 2-4 times. This normally isnt my kind of music. Yeah i like creed and some rock bands but im a bigger fan of music such as godsmack, system of a down and that type. But i have to say that Nickelback is eithier my first or second favorie band of all time.

You want this cd it is GREAT..BUY BUY BUY....Im sure you wont regret it. It if you read my entire reveiw thank you. I know i drug it out and its kinda long. Please make sure you say if it was helpful or not. Id like to see if people agree with me.

Nickelback is one of Canada's execllent examples of what comes out of the Great White North, The riffs and the sounds just make you want to go out and buy the CD when you hear the first song, they have another album before, Curb, it's a Canadian release only, it proves that there is talent in Canada

love em' or hate em', no one can deny that nickelback is one of the biggest modern rock acts on the face of the earth. for their debut, the state, nickelback brings all they have and places it into 10 unique and interesting cuts.

Breathe, Cowboy hat and Leader of men all sound like the nickelback we know and love, with catchy guitars, chad's signature vocals and sky high hooks.

Old enough is short but sweet, with a great chours and vocals.

Worthy to stay could go down as the most unique nickelback song of all, with a heavy bass effect and turntables! By far my favorite on the record.

Diggin' this, the sixth song, has some killer guitar riffs and one of the best solo's I've ever heard nickelback play (better than the one on "saturday night's alright"!).

Deep opens with a sludgy guitar intro and moves into another great song. Almost industrial sounding, if you can believe it.

One last run may take some time to grow on you, but when it does, it's killer.

Not leaving yet' left me speechless; this song has a wonderful intro and some of the best lyrics I've ever heard. The chorus sounds like something by audioslave or vertical horizon, very catchy but done at a perfect pace. All around great song.

Finally, Hold out your hand is one of the best closers I've ever heard. The songs just keeps building on itself, and towards the end it all comes together for a wonderful outro. Song construction at it's finest.

Overall, the more I listen the more I agree, this could be nickelback's best release to date. I still love "silver" and "road", but this is just a genius record. A must for any rock fan.

Ps. alot of people believe the 2002's re-issue of curb is nickelback's first record. It's not. It's actually a collection of b-sides and early recordings, and honestly, it kinda sucks. As a huge fan, who has the record, I wouldn't have felt bad about passing on it. So again, the state is nickelbacks first offical record, not curb. And what a record it is...