HINDER
ALL AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

I liked Hinders first album, there were some great tracks on there not least the great live pair of ‘Homecoming Queen’ and ‘Get Stoned’; though it was the sugar sweet ballad about cheating: ‘Lips of an Angel’ took the prize for me. The second CD however sort of passed me by, I bought it, but you know what? I honestly can't remember spinning it more than a couple of times. The big question for me then is what will this one do for us?

‘Sides of Me’ is a good start, dirty, heavy assed rock with a nice solo but then the title track is just OK and certainly not memorable enough to grab your attention for too long. I must admit I started to worry at this point…

There was no real need to panic though: ‘What Ya Gonna Do’ takes a familiar enough riff and rips it up and you end up with something that sounds familiar as a well worn pair of jeans. Hinder may well have a modern rock sound, but with this album without changing the template too much they seem to have grown into their sound. Things may be largely the same but the sound now seems to have a bit more meat on the bones; and while I can’t claim they had ‘matured’ they have certainly grown.

‘Hey Ho’ is what might have happened if KT Tunstall had merged with Def Leppard. It’s a big stadium, fist pounding sing-along that really works well, catchy as a cold in winter!

‘The Life’ is a standard new rock ballad, nothing bad about it, but nothing to really elevate it past a hundred other similar songs: it’s definitely good enough to worry the charts though (which is kind of a troubling statement to make but an honest one).

To be honest I find myself liking this album, though it’s still a little perplexing to me that I find the title track one of the weaker songs here.

The rest of the album smoulders nicely without going up in flames: I particularly like the mid-tempo ‘Red Tail Lights’ which is classic Hinder, very catchy! ‘Striptease’ works too, a little heavier, but a great song too. Then comes the closing couple ‘Everybody’s Wrong’ and ‘Put That Record on’ the latter name-checking Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith. It's a strong way to close the album.

Hinder may not have produced a bone-fide classic, but this is as strong as their debut and worth repeated listens.

Mark