Record Label: 604/Universal Republic
Genre: Mall Punk/Radio Pop
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com link

Canadian mall punk that has direct ties to Nickelback. Sound appealing? Well it should, if you’re under 13, love excessive metrosexual hairdos and radio pop, this is the shit for you.

I have to be honest though, Faber Drive’s big single ‘Tongue Tied’ has been on the radio in Canada for a few months. I didn’t know who it was, but I had the feeling that it sounded a LOT like a Nickelback song sung by someone else. I nearly shit myself when I realized that the singer from Nickelback helped write the song (read: actually wrote it and puppeted some younger pop stars to perform it). I have to admit that it’s a catchy pop song and I may or may not have sung along in my car more than once. But that said, it’s really the strongest song on the album. The band really take no risks and do not do anything musically that hasn’t been done before. Most of the songs are far too slow and mellow to even be close to punk, but I guess this is what the kids like these days. I even like the use of synths and other instrumentation, but ultimately, this is pure produced pop for a very specific music-video-savvy audience. And I imagine they do just fine with that. But if they’re looking for any kind of indie credability, they need to keep searching.

Bottom Line: Poppier than Avril. And probably written by the same robotic hitmakers.
Notable Tracks: Tongue Tied (Shut up, it’s catchy)
Overall Rating: