Entwine : "Chaotic Nation"

I seem to remember this Finnish band being more goth, Now they are more middle of the road radio metal, but still harder than say H.I.M. The singer's has a husky rasp to it , but he is singing for sure. He even takes on a higher more commercial tone by the third song where, synths take over like an Adam Lambert song. I like some of the sounds on "Fortune Falls" but overall it is too poppy and not even as brooding as 30 Seconds to Mars. It was that point that I had to find the resolve to tell myself I was going to press all the way through this album even though it is not my thing. They collide a more H.I.M sound with Nightwish on "Plastic World".  I suppose what doesn't work for it is how it should be dark but it is not. There are a few darker flourishes of keys here and there , but not enough to off set the brighter pop tones.

Then in a collision of influences they mix Placebo with Muse , which on paper sounds like it could work better than the end result. 'Lost But Still Alive" has a more Alice In Chains like riff in the  verse before going for a poppier more synth laden chorus . The melody he is singing during the verse is not so bad it reminds me a little of Skid Row. They return to the Placebo/ Muse hybrid on "Adrenalize" . They passed up the perfect chance to wink a Def Leppard on this one. Piano comes in and they go in a shamelessly up beat direction. I can see Avenged Sevenfold being a point of reference for the sounds they throw together. These guys would be doings themselves a great service if they stopped listening to modern rock radio.

"Revolt for Redemption" has a very dominate melodic riff leading into it and gets more anthemic from there. They go for a big melodic ending with "Scream' which doesn't latch onto their more recent influences , but isn't the most interesting song in the world. These guys are capable musicians I think they were better with more bats in the belfry ,as this uber slick radio sound doesn't seem like it is them. Well executed and the song writing is capable for what they are doing which they succeeded at, what they are doing just isn't my thing I'll give it a 4.5 and you can round it up if you like radio rock. I don't.