CREED - MY OWN PRISON

• Wind-up / BMG

So I know this album is not particularly new, it did come out in 1997, after all, but it's new to me, OK? I got it as a gift from my friend James, and James is neat. Creed have the same sort of angst-driven Modern Rock (TM) as Collective Soul and Matchbox 20. At their best they deliver skillfully crafted melodies that stand out from the ridiculously large crowd of bassist-guitarist-drummer-singer groups out there. At their worst, singer Scott Stapp sounds like he thinks he's singing for Metallica, while the rest of the band try to imitate Silverchair. (Who also imitated Metallica, to a point.) So while "Torn" opens with a spectacular bit of guitar strumming, it deteriorates into an overlong guitar crunch repetition. And while "My Own Prison" is suitably hook-filled to be eaten up by modern-rock radio and MTV, if it were any preachier I'd expect a collection plate to be passed around after track 4. Which brings me to my next gripe about Creed. While they do not call themselves a Christian band, they do something all Christian bands do: they tell you what to think. I don't mind that they sing about God, it's the way they do it that bugs me. When U2 sing about God, they ask questions, forcing the listener to ask questions, to wonder, to question: to think things out for themselves. When Scott Stapp sings "cause we all live under the reign of one king" he's not encouraging thought, he's telling you he's right, there's only one way to look at things, and that's the end of it. Musically, they weigh in at about average. Lyrically, they just annoy me.

Review by Aram at:  Frames Per Second

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