Curb

Review by Darren Gawle

Let me make one thing clear: there's nothing wrong with being derivative. That is, of course, when a band decides to re-open an era in music history that maybe hasn't been explored enough, or when a band can supply a fresh point of view to something the public will find comfortably familiar.

Unfortunately, Nickelback have rather opted for the Silverchair route to success, and as a result we have yet another band that sounds just like Pearl Jam. What pains me is that this band has easily enough latent talent to give us something interesting; instead Curb delivers little more than guitar-heavy songs that arrive, dwell unchanged both harmonically and melodically for three or four minutes, and then depart with a few seconds of feedback. The songs "Curb" and "Where?" supply some nice Middle-Eastern flavouring, but even then they're too close to Our Lady Peace to capture one's imagination.

That Nickelback have garnered a fair bit of industry support makes P.T. Barnum's comment about no one ever going bankrupt by underestimating the public's intelligence seem to be a moot point at best.

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