Chevelle : "the North Corridor"

OK, here is one that is a little more main stream than I normally go, but oh, well...Chevelle has always been a pretty decent Tool cover band. At this point Tool might not ever see the light of day so I though I would check in with these guys and see if these have progressed beyond "Undertow". There is a very Helmet like stomp to the opening song. This might be thinking man's nu-metal so I don't really hear where these guys fit as they are too hard for the radio, but not hard enough to be metal. A similar quandary faces Tool, who happens to be more infused with prog rock so they have all of those nerds, who never discovered King Crimson or Genesis getting ready to transcribe all their songs. Chevelle doesn't have as much going on in that department so they are just left to straight up rock. There is an annoying punk pace with the very stiff snare hits on "Enemies" that I was very tempted to skip ahead on. A temptation that I gave in to when this obnoxious tempo did not shift.

These guys have written songs I have liked in the past so I know they are capable of that. The bass line to "Joy Ride" feels more like Filter trying to hard. Much of the fault fall on Pete Loeffler, who could take the melodies in more interesting places as he has done before, rather than relying on vocal overdubs and harmonies to do all the heavy lifting. Many of the riffs found like Godsmack b-sides that never surfaced. There is a little more groove to thick bass of " Last Days" , but the repeated screams about catching the witch make me able to take this as serious as post Black Album Metallica. "Young Wicked" harkens back to their older work only it's a few degrees less inspired. It does have a more convincing groove than the other songs thus far.

"Warhol's Showbiz" is more radio ready as it backs off of some of their stomp. The while of the vocals should be emotive to keep most kids who grew up in the 90s convinced. The chorus to this song is really weak, to the point it almost is not there. This could almost be Sixx A. M. or any bland rock band at this point. "Punchline" seems like it will have a more interesting pulse, but it won't be the first time I have gotten hopes up for this album only to be let down. It is darker, and the vocals are a lower whisper until the build for the chorus that you think you can feel coming a mile away, but it never comes.  "Got Burned" should answer the question as to why this band is no longer relevant. At this point I am beginning to think I will feel the same way about the new Tool album if they don't bring it harder than this. All of things you used to like about bands like Filter are on display on "Shot From a Cannon" just with out any of the hooks to make it worth while. I'll give this album a  5.5 as I'm sure it's better than stuff band's like shine down are making and there are few worthwhile moments, but color me underwhelmed.