For better or worse, when I hear the name “Taproot”, it evokes a mostly by-gone era of alternative or nu-metal music that, frankly, I mostly ignored. Correct or not, my brain files these guys away with bands like Disturbed, Cold, and Staind. And as a result, my brain follows that up with pre-emptively writing them off.

As it turns out, this album isn’t nearly as bad as I was anticipating. But that’s essentially damning it with faint praise…while it’s not terrible, it’s also not that great. It’s your basic, run-of-the-mill, heavy alternative rock record. In fact, the one aspect of the record that stood out the most (and seemed like the biggest creative risk) doesn’t really plan out. Multiple tracks incorporate an Apple computer-esque robot voice that “sings” various lines in each of the songs. While I appreciate what they were trying to do, it just doesn’t work the juxtaposition between the robot and human voice is simply too jarring.

Now obviously, I didn’t care for this album. It’s just not a style of rock that’s very compelling to me and nothing I heard here really drew me in and engaged me on any level. That said, if you’re a fan of Taproot, you’ll probably want to check this out, robot voice and all.