The Saints - Nothing Is Straight In My House

I had high hopes for the latest album (albeit one year later) from The Saints initially. Hailing from Amsterdam, and with song names like "Porno Movies," "Nylon Pirates," and "Where is My Monkey?", a schizophrenic and exciting album was expected. It was such a disappointment when it was actually a repetitive and dull production. Lead singer Chris Bailey's voice is unfinished and raw a la John McCrea of Cake. But The Saints fail to perform at the same level. A more powerful voice would inject energy into songs like "A Madman Wrecked My Happy Home" instead of allowing it to dwindle into redundancy. "Nylon Pirates" evokes Nirvana in its grunge-inspired style, but The Saints fail to make the genre their own. While I appreciate certain blues influences in their music, "Bang On" completely destroys their credibility as musicians. Simple and predictable, it is the nadir of the album. It makes me want to bang MY HEAD on something- preferably something hard and/or sharp. Marty Wilson-Piper on guitar lacks style and creativity on the few solos he performs, and bassist Caspar Wijnberg only supplements the rhythm laid down by Peter Wilkinson. It should be noted that it's no wonder Wilkinson performs so superbly on the drums when the same rhythm is used for at least two songs in a row. The Saints are currently on tour in Europe. With the album release a year ago, I wonder why no one has told them to stop making music. Perhaps all the legalized weed in Amsterdam has skewed their perception of "good music." [www.saintsmusic.com]