Creed: Full Circle
Friday, 20, Nov 2009 04:29
Creed: Full Circle
Another American rock band with no discernable differences to their contemporaries. Whoopee!
Virgin, out now.
In a nutshell.
Too much like everything else.
What's it all about?
Creed are back and they're trying to have another crack at getting back into the charts after eight long years out of the public eye. Their last release, Weathered, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200, selling over 26 million copies in the US alone that year.
Will their brand of power chords and epic choruses impress audiences after going their separate ways for a few years?
Who's it by?
Creed fell apart after Weathered due to the strange antics of lead singer Scott Stapp, whose alleged drunken performances and general dynamic with the band either led to him - or the rest of them - leaving to go after their own dreams. Scott didn't get much out of this deal, though the newly-formed Alter Bridge - the other members of Creed - did pretty well for themselves.
Still, old wounds are now healed and they seem to have put themselves back together in a respectable way.
As an example.
"I'm entitled to overcome / Completely stunned, I'm numb / Knock me down throw me to the floor / There's no pain I can't feel no more." - Overcome
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
If they're planning on opening a "reforming to cash in" category in light of the number of bands doing this kind of shenanigans, then sure. Actually, not even then.
What the others say
"You'll be able to hear Creed as they do-a group of four talented musicians that jams the hell out of twelve great rock tunes collectively titled Full Circle." - TuneLab Music
"Ambiguity is not Creed's friend, they still italicise, bold, and underscore every emotion, the only thing missing is towering hooks as blunt as their intent, which in a way is too bad because this is the most sonically palatable Creed has been on record." - allmusic.com
So is it any good?
Seriously, I'm getting pretty sick of stuff like this.
Creed are like so many other bands at the moment and it hurts to say this. It's not because they were especially likeable in the first place, but because they still aren't putting any effort into being different to other bands in their remarkably broad, vanilla genre.
It took three listens of the full offering to truly get any feedback from this release. If you have it on in the background, you'll genuinely struggle to extract any difference in song and even if you did, it's not as if you'll even care anyway - it's not particularly gripping stuff.
You'd think that after the epic chords of Alter Bridge (Open Your Eyes in particular) and eight years of nothing under the Creed name, there'd be some kind of emotion in this release, yet it just sounds half-baked. I feel sorry for their fans, aside from the starry-eyed ones who'll listen to anything and love this - they're just idiots. It's like Green Day's Warning: one track done a few times, with a couple where they've half-done it instead.
Full Circle is like Daughtry's recently-released Leave This Town - a band that shows promise or excitement yet does everything that has been covered to death beforehand. I dare you to find a song on here that couldn't have been done by Nickelback or any other post-grunge band who can't be arsed to do anything groundbreaking - you'll struggle.
I suppose the low score's more reflecting of the general distaste for such similar bands that preceded Creed, yet aside from the technically good instrumental work and vocals, it's so generic. It'll be under "Misc. American rock" in HMV in a few weeks. Or a bargain bin. Maybe just the bin.
3.5/10
Matt Gardner