Between the Never and the Now

You're going to be sucked in. You are going to buy this album. After a couple of listenings, the chorus from what will inevitably become a hit radio rock single will still be stuck in your head. You'll know it's only a matter of days before you start cursing the band that created it.

The band, Vendetta Red. The album, their debut Between the Never and the Now. The single, "Shatterday," an unforgivably titled anthem and Vendetta's ticket to sales. You will buy the album. You will listen a few times through. You'll put that track, number five, on repeat while your friends are in the car, and you will shelve the thing right next to your old Creed CDs by August. It seems like the natural course for this album, which, although better than most of anything that can fall under the hardcore-rock umbrella, is littered with mediocre filler and unconvincing contrivances.

To its credit, Vendetta Red is young and very ambitious. Between the Never... fearlessly switches modes from screaming metal to a Green Day-like punk-pop. The album is blessed with clean production and a talented frontman, and Vendetta seems willing to experiment. Nowhere on the album is this more apparent than the track "Lipstick Tourniquets," which moves from grinding aggressiveness to 50s doo-wop in a matter of seconds. "Suicide Party," despite its title, is lightly poppy enough to be something off a Dawson's Creek soundtrack, while "Stay Home" can satisfy the biggest metalhead's thirst for blood-curdling screams.

There is talent here, and Vendetta's debut, though not a strong album, seems to point to better things to come for the band whenever they find their niche. In the meantime, we'll all be humming that damn "Shatterday" chorus.

Grade: B-