dan's jams - music reviews

The next resting place of a super-group of sort-of unknowns. And that's by no means a condemnation, sometimes that's just how things work out...drummer Wil Hunt was the drummer for Skrape, a band that should have been a hell of a lot bigger with more time and more media exposure; guitarist Clint Lowery was a founding member of and guitarist for Sevendust, a band that was marketed so that the only really recognizable face was the lead singer's; singer Brett Hestla had stepped in to play bass for Creed after they canned their first bass player; Clint's brother Corey was the bass player for Stuck Mojo and Steremud, both bands that accumulated a respectable cult following but never really became terribly big; the same can be said for guitarist Troy McLawhorn's stint in DoubleDrive.

And with such a mixed pedigree, there are a lot of ingredients and influences to pull from. The first single, "Brother" and "Pieces" are classic Sevendust-style riffs. "Free" and "That's Enough" are a bit more conventionally melodic than the staccato melodicism of the Sevendust style. And this is how this album goes. Songs stand out as divergent styles from other songs, and harken back to member's previous works. So while somewhat derivative and reminiscent of other things, it also provides an album with some diversity that isn't so diverse that songs are polarized against each other in stark contrast. It will be interesting to see how they develop.