Ontario's KOVER (not sure if it's pronounced like "cover" or "covert" without the T) have quite a problem on their hands. Their newest album "Assembly" only has three decent tracks on it: one is the intro, and the other two are bonus tracks. The rest of the album is lame and unimpressive power punk with heavy influence from the FOO FIGHTERS but with none of the charm. Sigh…well, I suppose if an album is to let the listener down, it's best to do so as early as possible.

Let's start with the best thing the album has going for it: the acoustic strumming and slowly rising layers of distorted guitar in the intro promise great things. Then, of course, they have to ruin it with the boring bounciness of the first song proper, leaving the first two tracks on the album to go together about as well as peanut butter and tuna fish. Skip to the last two tracks, and we have a well-crafted pop-punk song in "Wax Lyrical" (too bad it's actually a WARSAW cover) and an acoustic ballad in "Copper Wishes" that's a worthy replica of the best work of the GOO GOO DOLLS. And that, my friends, is all this CD has to offer. Through the rest of the album, there are scant noteworthy moments like the heavy reverb plinking in "It Girl", but otherwise every song is indistinguishable from the next. At least they have one more thing going for them: the vocals are performed in a throaty punk rock style and NOT a shrill emo whine, but the slightly-ballsier-than-most vocals can't raise the majority of the album to any level higher than annoying.

The worst part about this album is that it's clear that these guys are capable of so much more, but instead they choose to cater to a bunch of scene kids. Maybe it's their local scene that's holding them back… who knows? Hopefully if these guys are in it for the long haul, they'll realize that they need to actually use the talent they have. Otherwise, the "Assembly" shuts down here.

- Cardona

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/koverrock

RELATED ITEMS: No related articles at this time.