Is it a hit, *hit or miss?

Gob � Foot In Mouth Disease by Scott Slapp

Gob � Foot In Mouth Disease
Label: Arista
Rating: 
 

I am of two minds about this CD. On one hand, I have to admit that I enjoyed it, in all of it�s simplicity. On the other hand, if I were to hand out points for originality then these guys would get zero. If anything if I didn�t know any better I would venture to guess that I was listening to a new CD from Sum 41. 

Formulaic? That�s a big yes. Enjoyable? That�s another big yes. I guess if you�re gonna jump on a bandwagon, you try to attach yourself to all the winning aspects of that bandwagon and that�s just what Gob did here. They took everything that works for other �pop-punk� bands and simply regurgitated it. So the final result is a showcase of the genre more than an original piece of work. From a commercial standpoint I can understand that but it also severely limits the band and their music. 

Now the dilemma reaches another impasse because the CD is actually pretty good for what it is and at points better than the bands it is derived from. I never connected with Sum 41 but I did find a lot with Gob that I liked. Maybe because they are just a tad heavier. Gob�s sound is very similar just executed a little better and a cynic would say that the songs were engineered exactly for that reason, to win people over with something familiar. 

The mix was a bit muddy as well; the vocals seemed to get buried by overdriven guitar at points. The lyrics are not groundbreaking either but the bottom line is this is a �pop-punk� album that does hit the mark because it seemed engineered to do exactly that. But as a result it lands somewhere in the mediocre territory on the judgment scale. 

Gob should appeal to the fans that buy CD�s from similar bands but they do absolutely nothing to break new ground. This is a safe record, plain and simple.  So buy it if you like �pop-punk� or move on to other things if you don�t.