MUSIC REVIEW: Cory Marks - “Sorry for Nothing”
Cory Marks is a name that I’d love to hear going around Europe a little bit more. This artist from my home country of Canada has been proving that country music doesn’t need to fall victim to pop genericism since his debut album, “Who I Am,” came out in 2020. This year, we’ve been treated to a handful of rockin’ singles that have been paving the way for the release of his sophomore album on November 1st, “Sorry for Nothing.” It sounds like he’s still introducing himself to the world, so I was obviously very curious to see the direction in which he’s grown since his first album came out 4 years back.
In case you’re new here, I often like to use this first paragraph to give a general personal history on the artist, so if you’d like to compare your favorites to mine to see how comparable our tastes are, this next paragraph is for you! After all, music is subjective! So, with that in mind, feel free to skip down to the next paragraph if you’re not interested in my personal history with Cory Marks.
I’m pretty sure that I heard about Cory in a press release from Better Noise Music sometime before the release of his first album, but I can’t really be certain. When I came upon his music, he had just released a single called “Better Off,” which is such a heartfelt song about realizing that a relationship is just not working out. I dug around to learn what I could about him, finding some interesting music under his actual name before it was stylized as “Marks.” And then came “Outlaws & Outsiders,” which featured Ivan Moody (Five Finger Death Punch), Travis Tritt (he’s a country music classic, for you non-country folks), and Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe), which is such a certified banger that I’ve played it on repeat many a’ time since its release. Suffice it to say, apart from the melodramatic ballads (I’ve never been a big fan of country ballads, because they are so melodramatic), I adored his first album and have been semi-patiently been waiting for more from him ever since! You can check out my playlist of my personal favorites (not updated yet to include much new material, of course) down at the bottom.
The first song I heard from this album was “Make My Country Rock,” which feels like a full successor to “Outlaws & Outsiders,” as it features both Travis Tritt and Mick Mars again, though this time the single has Sully from Godsmack in the place of Ivan Moody. I didn’t think I could like a song more than I liked “O&O” but I very possibly like this one even better. “Make My Country Rock” is like… Cory Marks in a nutshell. He likes American metal and country music and this song is the perfect intersection of the two. He’s going to make the music he wants to make and that’s rockin’ heavy country music. The song is perfect and once again, I’ve had to play it on repeat multiple times.
The next song I heard was the single “Guilty,” which features DL of Bad Wolves. Here’s where this music will get divisive, because the European metal scene is extremely snobby, and this song is very much “American metal.” You know, back in the day we used to joke that Nickleback, Theory of a Deadman, Default were all one band called Theory of a Nicklefault… it branches beyond those acts, but there is a very distinct sound to American heavy rock/metal and this song sounds very much like those bands and has very little country music in it. If you like bands like Godsmack and Bad Wolves, there’s no issue, you’ll surely like this stuff, but for those people who poo-poo the American rock scene, you’ll probably want to give this one a pass. It’ll rub you the same wrong way as those bands do. Me? I like it, with a grain of salt, in the same way I can’t say I love those bands, but admit that they do have some catchy material once in a while.
Now, how fortunate for me that these were also the first two songs on the album? Continuing from the first singles, we next have “Whiskey for Sale,” which is a musical halfway point between the last two songs—it still has the same upbeat pounding rock of “Guilty” but adds a bit more country in the same vein as “Make My Country Rock.” It’s a really catchy song, so I rather like it. We get a more proper country song in the title track, “Sorry for Nothing,” which is just upbeat enough to avoid the pitfalls of country ballad-dom, not unlike “Better Off” on the previous album. This is a really solid song that benefits from some heavier guitar lines despite its overall more country sound. It also doesn’t feel like a reflection of “Who I Am,” the title track of the last album, so I’m glad he’s not just repeating a formula that works on this album, as is yet another common pitfall in American music.
We go into Alan Jackson territory with “Drunk When I’m High”—this reminded me a bit of “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” in its slightly Caribbean spirit, if not sound. There’s a much more traditional country sound to the guitars and overall music on top of it. The only thing this song is missing is Jimmy Buffet, though I appreciate the little details in the backing music, like small flourishes from a female vocalist.
Next up is a song called “17,” which slows it down just a little bit again and adds some violin and steel guitar, which are of course very classic country music instruments. This is a bit of a nostalgic love song about a teenage romance, which again isn’t quite slow enough to really be a ballad, to its benefit. This is followed by “Fast as I Can,” which is a peppy, fun song with a lot of fun guitar work to spice it up and give it texture on top of its cute lyrics about having never been to many places, but “if that’s where girls like you come from, I’m gonna get there as fast as I can.” Really, really cute track.
“Tough to Be Strong” is a softer track that’s about exactly what you think it is. It’s a pretty relatable track in this day and age and when we’re all combating toxic masculinity, songs like this (especially written by men) feel really important. “A Lot Like Me” is another booze-heavy song lyrically that almost reminds me of gangster rappers, especially when paired with the song’s rhythm, which is really catchy but more mid-tempo and consistent throughout. Very catchy, but a little too all-about-getting-messed-up lyrically to click with me, even if I like it a lot musically.
“1949” is much more country-oriented again, talking about love, trucks, and nostalgia. The blend of guitars and steel guitars is nicely done and not too hammy, and the oooh-oooh part will certainly hit or miss with some people. This song definitely has “Summer of ‘69” by Bryan Adams vibes; it feels like it could be a spiritual successor to that track. They turn up the rock again for “Lit Up,” where some grit gets thrown into the vocals, which is the main thing that stands out in this song—I almost thought there was a guest vocalist. Otherwise, it’s a pretty punchy piece that I could clearly see people dancing to at a live show—yet another upbeat and fun party song.
They slow it down to ballad territory at last with the final song, “Late Night of Drinking Again.” Here we reach the territory of country music that I don’t like… but! I actually think this one is really well done and I like it a lot better than, for example, “My Whiskey Your Wine” from the last album. It reminds me of old songs from George Jones, Hank Williams Sr., or Patsy Cline… you know, the real classic country music artists. So for a country ballad, I find this one to be very nicely executed and not so cringy that it makes me die a little inside. Still, it won’t be my favorite on the album because I still don’t like country ballads, but I can appreciate it for being absolutely spot-on stylistically.
On the whole, this album steers a lot more into the rock direction than the debut, while maintaining its country roots. If I’m being practical, I’ll say that the European metal snobs might hate this release for sounding too much like “American metal” (and they wouldn’t be wrong), but country music lovers who like their music a little heavier could find “Sorry for Nothing” to be a perfect gateway into a whole new world of music. Myself? While I don’t listen to a lot of the heavy music that Cory likes and incorporates into his sound, like Five Finger Death Punch or Godsmack, I do actually like the way he kicks up his country music. Sure, it sounds really American, but it isn’t inherently bad because of that (unless, of course, you’re one of the snobs). I’d love for him to come to Finland for like a month though, during a heavy concert season, so I could take him on a tour of a far more diverse heavy metal culture than what it seems he knows. I feel like he’s barely dipped his toes into heavy music and it would be really fun to show him around what Europe has to offer.
Actually, if I have one major complaint about this album, it’s the over-glorification of drinking. If you want to stick within country tropes—of which drinking is a major one—that’s fine, but I live in a country where severe alcoholism is a huge issue, so albums that have this many straight-up drinking songs or songs about using drinking as a vice to deal with your problems can feel a little tiresome lyrically, even when I really enjoy them musically. I would’ve enjoyed a few more relatable slice-of-life songs in their place, but that’s just my personal preference.
That said, on the whole, I think this is a really damned good sophomore album. It takes what Cory laid down with “Who I Am” and drives it further and harder in both the direction of country and heavy music, pushing the limits of both styles. It will surely divide the fans whose tastes don’t cross over between those genres, but for folks like me who appreciate both, Cory Marks is pure ear candy. I’d love to feel like he has a little more experience in life than just drinking (he’s only 2 years younger than me after all) to share in his songs, but beyond my lyrical nit-pick, I’m sure I’ll be listening to this album quite a bit in the coming months!
By the way, if you have the full version of the album with some bonus tracks, he does a really fun cover of “Learn to Fly” by the Foo Fighters. He hit that sweet genre niche to make it his own sound-wise and I love it.
Tracklist
Make My Country Rock ft. Travis Tritt, Sulley, & Mick Mars
Guilty ft. DL
Whiskey for Sale
Sorry for Nothing
Drunk When I’m High
17
Fast as I can
Tough to Be Strong
A Lot Like Me
1949
Lit Up
Late Night of Drinking Again
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