Drowning in Mediocrity

God bless the drunken jocks. You’ve undoubtedly seen them at any rock show – thrashing around in the mosh pit wearing their brand name jeans and wife beaters. They pride themselves on making the concert experience a physical one for every patron lucky enough to be standing within their vicinity. After all, these guys really ‘feel’ the music and are inspired to wrestle others to the ground. Meet Drowning Pool – Jock Rock’s poster children, who return with a new lead singer to bring us Desensitized. Desensitized might be a somewhat appropriate album title, given all the band has been through in recent years. Following a rapidly successful debut, Sinner, and a huge main stage presence at Ozzfest, Dave Williams (then lead singer of Drowning Pool) tragically passed away on the bands tour bus during an East Coast date. Beloved and befriended by many, his death tremendously shook the nu-metal world and brought the band’s blossoming career to a screeching halt.
Three years later, the band returns with a new singer, Jason Jones, but keep the same simplistic, ‘trying-so-hard-to-sound-really-heavy’ style that propelled them earlier in their career. Vocally, Jason Jones sounds like he could be one of Phil Anselmo’s illegitimate sons; he certainly has the look and sound, but isn’t quite the original. Desensitized does boast a considerable amount of energy and could go toe to toe with any nu-metal band in that regard, but with uninspiring lyrics like “If you wanna step up, you’re gonna get knocked down!” it seems only the drunken jocks will be feeling this album.