But... then I found myself humming a couple of the songs the next day.

This puts me in a weird predicament. Just because I was humming the songs the next day doesn't really mean anything in terms of quality of the music; it just means they have memorable hooks. As a point of reference, who among you can honestly say you've never gotten some insipid pop song's hook stuck in your head? (You in the back, stop lying to yourself.)

And the weirdest thing perhaps is that I can't really pinpoint what I dislike about the CD. Tipping Point is full of mid- to up-tempo rockers, with a kind of bluesy/grungy rock sound. Somewhere between Shinedown and Silvercrush, maybe a few flavors of Pearl Jam and Nirvana in there too on the more upbeat "Undone." Vocalist John Cusimano may be very high in my list of favorite rock voices, but neither is he near the bottom. Like I said, there are plenty of vocal hooks that get lodged in my head, particularly the chorus to opener "Blame." John and fellow guitarist Rob Levin throw together plenty of decent riffs, so it's not that the guitars are particularly boring. Likewise, bassist Matt Powers and drummer Shawn Pelton do a good job holding the rhythm together, never sounding like they're just phoning it in and never acting like they're unduly drawing attention to themselves.

There are a few dull songs, which are maybe weighing too heavily into my memory of the CD. For instance, "Freedom Ban," a drearily slow song sounding heavily influenced by Shinedown's ".45" but lacking emotion and dragging on for over 5 minutes.