On their latest album, ALL AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, Oklahoma rockers HINDER have delivered the latest entry into the resurgence of booze-drenched, tunes about sex, drugs, and rock n roll. With their recent “viral” clip for “Put That Record On,” it was made quite clear that the band would be paying homage to their rock heroes, but in question was how good a job they could possibly do?
“2 Sides of Me” kicks off the album sounding like a modern-day DEF LEPPARD, but does little to distinguish HINDER from countless other radio-centric rock bands. The title track talks about turning “good girls bad, ” but sounds about as intimidating as “Nick,” the rocker-guy boyfriend of Justine Bateman on FAMILY TIES (yeah, dated reference).
There’s an odd moment while listening to “What You Gonna Do?” where the chorus becomes somewhat familiar in a subtle way, musically recalling EDDIE RABBIT’S “Driving My Life Away” in terms of melody and delivery. Not necessarily a “lift,” but there’s certainly a kindred nature to it.
The respectfully-titled “Hey Ho,” carries a groove that seems to pay tribute to EDIE BRICKELL & THE NEW BOHEMIANS’ “What I Am” on the verses before bringing the rock on the choruses to name-drop Hendrix and Guns N Roses in between.
You’ve got the obligatory ballads checking in with “The Life” and “Everybody’s Wrong,” a few more rockers like “Striptease” which sounds like it’s aping ROB ZOMBIE on the intro and verse riffs, and “Waking up the Devil” which borrows straight from the MOTLEY CRUE playbook.
Bottom line is that certain things work when done in fun or true sincerity, but fail miserably when a band tries too hard, or really has nothing at all to say. The result is an album like ALL AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, which on the surface is a solid and listenable rock album, but in reality is unremarkable sound-alike material that lacks any kind of true voice, soul, or pure rock. There is not a single song present that will make listeners immediately think “Hey, it’s Hinder!,” the album cover bears similarity to a DOPE album from a few years back, and the album fails to inspire this listener to throw up the horns and party.
Apparently HINDER frontman Austin Winkler digs looking himself up online and checking out the less-than-favorable reviews of his work, so he should be happy to add this one to his collection.
Rating: 2/5
