I had never heard of Landmine Spring before I received this album in the mail. But hey, they were named after a Quicksand song, so at least they have good taste in music. According to their press release this band has been getting quite a bit of hype, now either I’ve been living under a rock, or this is just another press release exaggeration. Either way I was intrigued, so it was some anticipation that I popped this disc into my CD player.

Foolish me, I should’ve known better than to believe the hype. I’m not saying that this album is horrible, but to me it sounds very average. Take Helmet, add elements of your average chunky riffing hard rock/metal band and you’d have Landmine Spring. All the songs have a way of running together, as they have very similar structures and styles. A little diversity could really go a long way on this release. I found myself bobbing my head occasionally, but there wasn’t really enough substance here to bring me back for repeat listens.

Don’t get me wrong, if hard rock with a slight metal influence is your thing, don’t even mind my ramblings here and give this band a shot. However, the fact that this thing just seems to drag on and on didn’t do it any favors. This band has the ability and everything they would need to really do something special, but this just doesn’t do much for me at all. According to many sources, this is apparently an improvement on their last release, so hopefully this band will continue to evolve.