Sick Puppies

Tri-Polar EMI**

Receiving a belated release on this side of the Atlantic (aided and abetted, no doubt, by their single, All the Same, which mutated into a viral campaign that has so far reached 65 million clicks), Tri-Polar, the US/Australian trio's second major-label album, is the kind of dull, streamlined rock that you thought had gone out of fashion with the likes of Puddle of Mudd and Nickelback. And yet you can see the appeal, which is clearly why songs such as You're Going Downis now the theme tune for WWE's Extreme Rulesbroadcast, and Street Fighter Waris used as part of the marketing roll-out for the videogame franchise. Some ideas filtering through the album work fine – notably, the frantic Pistols/Buzzcocks charge of Survive, and the near cathartic release of So What I Lied. Sadly, the remainder come across as wholly uninvolving rock music by-the-numbers, efficient but not much more than that. See sickpuppies.net

Download tracks: Survive