Stone Temple Pilots present a stinky heap of rhino feces on their latest single, “Between The Lines,” from the upcoming self-titled release.

It sounds like Scott Weiland and company were going for a brilliantly crude hard rock sound, similar to their classic album Tiny Music.  Unfortunately, the less than 3 minute track misses that mark, almost entirely.

The drum beat is exhaustively repetitive, and not in the likes of “Vasoline’s” awesome redundancy, but flat-out boring.

Conceptually, “Between The Lines” is not Weiland’s best.  The content focuses around the concept of love being the most important part of life even when taking drugs.  The lyrics, in typical STP fashion, offer many drug-inspired images like magic planes, penguins, and smiling crocodiles.

There was a time when Weiland was on his way to becoming one of the greatest frontman of all-time.  His stage swagger and commanding presence put him on path to Jagger-dom.  Perhaps, that day will return but seems unlikely on this effort.

“Between The Lines” is not all bad though.  Guitarist Dean DeLeo provides a silver lining as he delivers a forceful guitar solo that salvages the track from epic failure.

Let’s see what STP has in store on the rest of the album.  Who knows?  Maybe we’ve heard the worst track, or maybe this was the best.  The self-titled release is scheduled to debut on May 25, 2010 on Atlantic Records.

Stone Temple Pilots are Scott Weiland (Vocals), Dean DeLeo (Guitars), Robert DeLeo (Bass), & Eric Kretz (Drums).