Strung Out, Blackhawks Over Los Angeles

Strung Out sets out a big task for themselves: bridging metal, punk, and prog-rock, three approaches which at one point were mutually exclusive, though not anymore (for better or for worse). They set metal riffing atop a rhythm section that switches effortlessly between metal and hardcore punk when needed. Blackhawks Over Los Angles, is their seventh album, and after 14 years, if nothing else, they’d better be tight, and they are. Unfortunately, they’re not much more than that.

While the sound of the band itself is powerful and effective, and they come up with some cool riffs and things, their melodies settle for cheap crowd-pleasing sentiment. They try to write big anthems that, despite the sonic power and dexterity, still sound like pop-metal singalong throwaways. And it’s not because they didn’t work hard enough on them — “Dirty Little Secret” shows a lot of craft, with an intricate bridge, well-deployed harmonies, and even keyboards here and there. In a bid to be the new hardcore Springsteen, Strung Out have instead become the new hardcore Poison.

Ordinarily, you might hope that a band might still continue to develop, and maybe improve their songwriting over the course of future albums. But after 14 years, this dog is too old to learn any new tricks. It’s sad, because the band’s every intention is good — they have an interesting sound, socially aware lyrics, and a good singer — but the melodies are so annoying that you still don’t care.