Caught in the Carousel

Nonpoint

Miracle
Rocket Science

Nonpoint

Even the best bands put out crappy songs now and again. Think Nirvana's "Beans" or The Stone Roses' "Ten Story Love Song" or even The Beatles' "Maxwell's Silver Hammer": there's almost always at least one cut on your favorite album that you could do without. Generally I have to like about half the songs on an album to say I like it. Really, the bar is set pretty low; but Nonpoint managed to limbo right under it.

Almost any successful band has their "sound". You can spot a U2 song a mile away but there is a discernable difference between say, "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Beautiful Day." That's my biggest complaint with Nonpoint's latest effort, Miracle—all the songs sound exactly the same. The first time I listened to the album I thought I was still listening to the first song only to discover I was 3 tracks in. It is 12 tracks of relentlessly macho chorus-driven-radio-friendly metal dreck.

The title track is actually getting some attention both on the radio and on ESPN (if you're a fan of SportsCenter you've probably heard it) and by itself it's not bad. If I had only heard the single I'd probably be a fan, but again it's an entire album of stuff that sounds just like that one song. And then there are the lyrics. With lines like "Get a doctor or a priest, not an animal I'm a beast" I felt compelled to check the origami-like CD box to see if Dr. Seuss collaborated.

Formed in 1997, Nonpoint retains three of its original members; lead singer Elias Soriano, bassist Ken "bastard" MacMillan and drummer Robb Rivera. Miracle is the debut album for their new guitarist Zach Broderick (formerly of Modern Day Zero). For this, their seventh album, Nonpoint retained Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett of Mudvayne to produce. Which makes the fact that this is such a mediocre album almost inexplicable. With that kind of talent behind them Nonpoint should have risen to new heights, instead they fell flat.

—Pamela Obenchain