Listened to Rev Theory’s latest album today for the fourth or fifth time to really get my words together for this review. Do I dock points for the band sounding like a mish mash of previous bands dating as far back as nineteen ninety, maybe even further back then that, or do I give them a congratulatory pat on the back for creating a vicious album that manages to act as a rallying cry against the machine, the norm, everything that has landed us in our current state of nationwide dismay? I think, and this is going to be difficult, I can probably do both, but wont. Lets just call it what it is.

The album starts off with Dead In A Grave which is reminiscent to hair bands like Skid Row and Motley Crue. The whole rock and roll attitude is present with a big fuck you, literally, to shock and wow you delivered vocally in a style that does little to impress. Its your average hard rock vocal style, think Disturbed meets Alice In Chains or to simplify it Godsmack. The unfortunate combination of the bands posed photography all over the internet and their sound is a bit of a distraction. Is this genuine or just some kids who’ve learned to mock their idols with enough gust to make it their own? Just when you begin to ponder this question the albums title track kicks in and, even though vocally we’ve been here before, lyrically the potency of every word is directional peaking in the chorus unfortunately loosing face in the guitar solo which screams Tom Morello on the old Rage Against The Machine track Wake Up.

Hangman, no matter how much I try, simply conjures up the image of long haired guys with one foot raised on an amp head banging in tacky strobe lights in unison. Its simply the aged sound in the music and the vocal delivery here. The song may be insanely smart but all I hear is nineteen ninety calling. Take for example, Loaded Gun, this track could have fallen off of STP’s Core album and the final track on the album, Hollowman, could have come straight from Alice In Chains Jar of Flies EP. In short the album is scattered with well to do lyrics that carry plenty of meaning to them but the band fails to acquire a sound all its own, instead floating along in the vapor trails of bands gone by. For those looking for your basic hard rock album you will probably enjoy this but if your looking for a breath of fresh air you might want to look elsewhere. As always final judgment is yours. Enjoy.