Stiffed

Eh.

That more or less sums it up. Stiffed's Burned Again provides about 43 moments worth of 'eh' moments. You know the type of album I'm talking about here. A sound, tight album that just doesn't provide much to remember past the initial listen. There's enough to keep you there in the first place, but the incentive to spin the disc a second, third, or fourth time just is not there.

To her credit, singer Santi White is an engaging and talented front-woman, albeit one who's not able to save the rest of the band from the drudgery and ruts they quickly fall victim to. Again, not bad per se, but certainly nothing that's worth any sort of real merit. "Soon Enough" has some solid and very quick punk rhythms, and White's voice is shown to be a versatile one, as she sounds just as home on more punk-sounding efforts like this one as a slower, more groove-dependent dub track like "Your Voice." It's on those slower tracks that Santi really takes on a lot of the same qualities that Gwen Stefani possessed in her early days with No Doubt. But save those two tracks, nothing sticks out.

There's fifteen songs on the album. That's fifteen opportunities to make a solid, concrete impression on a listener. Fifteen opportunities to make them salivate for more. Songs like "Fix Me" bore more than anything else, as the overly repetitive nature of the music really takes things over. Stiffed is comfortable in several styles, but apparently that comfort is unable to show conviction for the band.

This isn't at all a bad effort, and I'm sure there's a decent contingent of people who will find a lot to like here. Santi White shows a great amount of promise and ambition, with a versatile voice that should carry her well. My concerns don't lie with her, but with the rest of the group, who hardly seem as eager to play as White does.