RISE TO ADDICTION

From what I gather, there is has been a fair amount of hype in the European press for this English band's debut full-length, "A New Shade of Black for the Soul". RISE TO ADDICTION falls squarely into the modern hard rock category, given more muscle with some tough, crunchy riffs, thanks in part to Andy Sneap's mix. I'm not completely convinced of this one's worth, mainly because of the number of similarities heard to the numerous radio-friendly bands out there today. Even so, "A New Shade of Black for the Soul" offers a little more in the way of songwriting, even if it gets old at the halfway point.

As it turns out, the opening proper track ("A New Shade" is a very brief intro),"Cold Season" is the finest heard on the disc. Thick, heavy riffing, and a slamming tempo combine with a fairly infectious chorus. The tunes that follow are, for the most part, decent, but the formula does begin to wear thin. The soulful, heard-that-before, vocal style of Leigh Oates, is what will make most folks peg this band as a radio-rock outfit. His voice and some of the guitar structures will remind at times of acts like SEVENDUST and at other times like any host of modern bands that will give you that déjà vu feeling of having heard the style somewhere before. It is hard to complain about the fat bass lines, melodic guitars, and chunky riffs heard all over the album though. RISE TO ADDICTION has certainly taken care to assemble these pieces in a way that keeps several tunes from sounding overly generic.

The problem is that just as many songs do in fact have that vanilla flavoring. As always though, an album's worth is in the ear of the beholder. Folks that listen to modern hard rock exclusively will undoubtedly dub RISE TO ADDICTION the new kings. Everyone else (the metal crowd in the particular) will write off "A New Shade of Black for the Soul" as commercial drivel, which is not necessarily fair either, as this is not a bad album by any means. It is just one that is difficult to embrace, especially after you've heard the first several tracks. Personally, I can only take the album in small does and even then I get tired of it quick. Objectively speaking, "A New Shade of Black" still manages to rise, if just a bit, above the mundane.