Drowning Pool - Full Circle

So if we can stick the 'nu-' prefix in front of metal genres willy-nilly, we could reasonably slap a '–lite' on the ass end. Drowning Pool must sound edgy, aggressive, passionate and fiery if you're a 14 year-old getting nervous about not having hit puberty yet. This is exactly what happens when events like Ozzfest get big and labels need to start churning out bands to satisfy masses of self-styled rebellious children, the music becomes a paint-by-numbers collage of other bands' moments: we'll have that Chris Cornell vocal that sends shivers down your spine, some Thunder-type lighters in the air stadium ballad (Reason I'm Alive is a reason to turn off), that stop-start crunch which comprised the entirety of nu-metal 1998-2001 and the token sing-a-long circle pit triggers, a la Coal Chamber. I know that combination all sounds terrible, but it's actually worse. There is barely a shred of passion in amongst all of this parroting. [Ali Maloney]