American Head Charge

I hate this shit: loaded down with gimmicks and novelties (ooh, the members are zany on stage and have self-destructive tendencies), this latest clunker from American Head Charge is fourth-tier nu-metal, which almost endearingly doesn’t even attempt to pander to anything except angst-filled 14-year-olds. The stupid groove metal may make your inner child bop up and down, but it’ll make the adult seethe with rage; there are ways to create extreme music dealing with adult emotions, and this is not it. Occasionally one of the thick-necked repetitious grooves will get a foot grudgingly tapping, but those tortured metal soul vocals quickly make all body parts limp and unwilling. Oddly enough however, the best thing about the disc is the melodic vocals, which are quite well done. Still, the circus-esque cover art says it all, in so many ways.