Outspoken
“Bitter Shovel”
(Lava)
When will this movement end? It almost sounds like the early nineties, but these bands can’t live up to the genre they are trying to break into. Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Dinosaur Jr., all perfected this grungy rock sound 10 years ago. Now bands like Creed, Nickelback, Default and Outspoken are stepping all over this genre like pigs in a slop pen. There must be night classes somewhere called “How to sing like Creed and start your own shitty band.” But if you have embraced Creed and the other sound-a-likes, then by all means get excited about Outspoken.
These guys have the butt-rock guitars, raspy voice and over-dramatic lyrics. The only bright side on this album is the song “Way I Am.” The only reason it’s a bright spot because the title reminds me of Eminem, which is a nice break from thinking about Outspoken. The best part of the album is in “Revolving.” The lyrics are inspiring and really make me empathize with this singer. “I’m like a goldfish swimming in a plugged in blender… But somebody must have already broken my wings cause I couldn’t fly.” Not to point out the obvious, but goldfish don’t have wings. If anyone out there is near this “plugged in blender” please, please, turn it on.
