HOURCAST

The problem is not that HOURCAST's "State of Disgrace" is bland, radio-friendly, nu-rooted modern rock/metal. Oh wait, that is at least part of the problem. The big problem is that the light-to heavy (relatively speaking) arrangements are tolerable if the songwriting is especially catchy or the band possesses something that helps set it apart from the pack, or at least remains stored in the memory banks for more than five minutes after the disc's end. But even with a batch of songs that are (at least in some cases) not abysmal, the material as a whole is so bland that most will not remember the disc unless one ends up getting stabbed through the eyeball with a piece of its plastic casing. Everything is a little too familiar here and none of it sounds like a band that wants anything more than to capture glories that have already been snagged by far better groups.

Does every song suck the proverbial big one? I suppose not, but the effect that "State of Disgrace" will have on its fair share of listeners can be likened to being covered in vanilla ice cream, spun in circles, and forced to listen to a mixed tape of modern-rock/nu-metal B-sides. Several tunes follow closely the aforementioned light-to-heavy formula, while atmospherics and effects are often thrown into the mix. Piano plays a central role on album-opener "This Life". Unfortunately, what is basically a nice touch is ultimately dragged down by overly standard modern rock vocals and chord progressions. Perhaps the most memorable of the bunch, "Lunar", is also one of the lyrically silliest tracks on the album, what with all the blathering on about a desire to live on the moon because the poor sap is better off being far away from the lass in question. ADEMA-isms pop up here and there as well; too bad the same level of songwriting is not matched.

Much of the rest of the material is laced with those familiar riff-chunk verses and anguished melodic vocal choruses, though the acoustic-driven "Memories and Lies" is not half bad. If Plain Jane modern rock/metal pablum floats your boat, then you'll probably salivate uncontrollably over "State of Disgrace". There is not much else to say about it.