The first Stone Temple Pilots album in nine years is utterly inessential in every way save one: It proves that listlessness emits a low, rattling sound just audible enough to be captured on tape. Other than that, Stone Temple Pilots is best approached as a case study in what happens when faded superstar rock bands held together only by a lack of better career options decide to swallow their pride and make a record. Coming after a massive, headline-grabbing tour in 2008 marred by in-fighting and Scott Weiland’s walking train-wreck act—and the equally massive shrug that greeted Weiland’s ludicrous solo record “Happy” In Galoshes later the same year—Stone Temple Pilots reeks of a contractual obligation in the transparent guise of the “we’re back and better than ever!” reunion album. As an excuse for STP to once again pack arenas full of graying Gen-Xers, it doesn’t justify itself nearly as well as the band’s underrated battery of mid-’90s hits. At best, fans may come to appreciate Stone Temple Pilots as soundtrack for countless trips to the bathroom at future shows.