Chris Daughtry's Newest Album Gets Blasted By the Miami Herald!

I never really liked Howard Cohen of the Miami Herald, but I have to give credit where it's due! He hits the bullseye with this scathing yet truthful review of Chris Daughtry and his other Tools newest album. So bad, in fact, that it only received 1 1/2 stars. Major Ouch! Enjoy!


Reviews | Daughtry
• ROCK
DAUGHTRY
Leave This Town
19/RCA
* ½
American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry never met a cliché he couldn't steamroll his way over on angst-driven post-grunge rock. That was forgivable on his band's 2006 debut because you figured he probably didn't have that much say in its direction.

However, this baggage is damnable on Leave This Town, the sound-alike follow-up to the quadruple-platinum Daughtry.

Leave This Town is maddeningly generic and predictable. Hey, big dumb rock doesn't have to strive for Art. Chickenfoot's no-frills retro rawk, for instance, is a blast to crank while you try to drive 55.

Not so Daughtry's sullen rockers. The lyrics are little more than nonsensical, unrelated lines strung together so he can sing in rhythm. ``With time to kill and an empty tomb / I always find the way to pass the time with you,'' he yowls on the muscular You Don't Belong.

If the brooding music was occasionally fun and distinctly crafted, this would matter little. But Daughtry, who sings well but sounds as if he hasn't listened to any rock band pre-2003, merely apes Creed and Nickelback, whose leader Chad Kroeger cowrites two tracks, including the first single, No Surprise, an apt alternate title for this disc.

Daughtry's faceless group isn't well served by returning producer Howard Benson's glossy but tightly compressed sound. Guitarists Josh Steely and Brian Craddock are mixed into flat bread when ear-grabbing solos should offer dynamics on otherwise catchy cuts like Ghost of Me, the CD's best. Country's smooth crooner Vince Gill guests on Tennessee Line but is similarly rendered ineffectual.

-- HOWARD COHEN