Dear Superstar - Heartless (DR2/Riot)

When I listen to an album that I don't consider metal at all, the first place I drop by to verify my conclusion is MySpace; then, just to feel absolutely sure that I know what I'm about, I hit up the infamous Encyclopaedia Metallum. If by that stage I can't find any band listed as 'metal', by whatever obscure crossover, sub-sub-genre, or other category, then I feel justified in being able to stand up and say loudly and clearly: get this off my desk because it doesn't belong here.

Unfortunately that's what I have to do with Dear Superstar. Yes, various other publications have hailed this band as the next Motley Crue, or the next greatest blah blah blah. Not me. Whoever wrote that clearly didn't even listen to this release. Dear Superstar are not Steel Panther - they are not even close. They are not even as metal as Wednesday 13, and some of his work does occasionally stretch the genre. This boy band (for that's what they really are) are a group of emos who match whiney vocals with what is effectively indie rock of whatever calibre pollutes the not-so-mainstream radio stations in your country: the type that claims it's alternative but which became localised in the mainstream by 1998.

But, to give these kids credit - they are outside my genre, after all, not outside my ability to evaluate their skill - they have delivered an album that is full of energy, does actually have some good hooks in it, and is occasionally hard-edged enough to have warranted coasting along my desk. It is also very well produced and these kids have a particular style that obviously works for them and that they work well within, given how tight the release is.

This release is likely to appeal to people who like to think they're metal but are actually too afraid to go and get something that really is. Still, if you're into it - good for you. As for me? Well, I didn't get past track six.

Dear Superstar's Heartless is out now on DR2/Riot.