Josh Todd You Made Me by Dan Grote

Josh Todd - You Made Me
Label: Todd Entertainment
Rating:

Not but three years ago, Josh Todd was the frontman for Buckcherry, a latter-day Black Crowes without the soul or an earlier Jet without the hooks.

Put simpler, they were a hard rock band trying to sound like they fell out of the �70s.
In their brief 2-year existence on the national radar, they had a hit song about cocaine, a video with Tara Reid, played Woodstock '99, had a song adopted by NASCAR, and then broke up.

Three years later, Todd formed his own band, but only after being rejected by Velvet Revolver (Better off, I say. "Set Me Free" was a joke).
So, does Todd's new band sound like his old one? In voice only. Otherwise, it's goodbye Angus Young riff-thefts and hello nu-metal.

Todd's joined the scream scene some four years too late, arming himself with a cadre of musicians that sound like they just missed playing in Disturbed.

I'm not saying that to be derogatory, "You Made Me" is a surprisingly solid effort, music-wise. "Broken" is the album's pinnacle, hard without resorting to screams, and a clever "pills in your mouth" refrain.

There are more angsty screamer tracks, such as "Flowers and Cages," in which Todd cannot stop wailing "the battle's just begun," but the song is weakened by making no mention of what the battle is for or who it is against.

Todd's songwriting falters in places, such as on "The Walls," when he uses walls as a metaphor for a bad relationship in language that makes it sound like it was written by a cover band just starting to write its own material.

Also, "Lovely Bones," the album's closing track and only ballad, feels tacked-on and doesn't really hold its own with the rest of the album. The power ballad is a key contrivance of hard rock, and if Todd wants to remake a name for himself, one might suggest that it's the area in which he most needs improvement.

VERDICT: Todd rocks, but his writing skills need some tweaking if he wants to be known for more than his voice and tattoos. Hard to believe this is the same guy who penned such Buckcherry greats as "Lit Up" and "Lawless and Lulu."