It hasn't been long enough for Staind

Staind is a band that needs no introduction at all. One would struggle to find a band in rock music today with as homogenous a catalogue as these world-weary Bostonians. Since its inception more than 10 years ago, Staind has been churning out its ever-stagnant style of radio-friendly post-grunge rock. Now in 2008, the band has released its fifth proper effort, The Illusion of Progress, an album that could not have been given a more appropriate title.

"Hues of Pink Floyd and straight-up blues," Aaron Lewis proclaimed boldly in promotion of the new record. While this is not a totally inaccurate statement, it is somewhat misleading. It's like reading the heading on a Lucky Charms box: "Now with twelve essential vitamins and minerals!" What General Mills fails to mention is that you get diddly squat in percentages of such nutrients - they're still the same teeth-rotting sugar turds! Staind may have tossed in some of these elements, but it's still the same whiney, angst rock.

One of the most interesting and even ironic aspects of this record is just how self-aware the group seems to be on it. In addition to the album motif, the opener, "This Is It," speaks volumes to the band's outlook on its sound. "You should take this for what it's worth. This is it and it feels like this is good enough for me."

Apparently it's also good enough for the band's fans and radio stations, given the predictably high sales already reported for the album, as well as the strong rotation of its current single, "Believe," which somehow manages to sound exactly like every other Staind song. Apparently after all of Staind's successes and all their accumulated wealth and popularity, life still sucks for these dudes.

With this outing, the members of Staind also continue their recent trend of continually softening and slowing their already fairly cut-and-dry sound. While the situation isn't so dire as to fall into the "album of ballads" pitfall many of their peers' records tend to fall victim to, virtually every track on this release is mid-tempo, which lends the whole album a very lethargic feel, something the near-hour-long runtime doesn't help. When the group actually does crank up the volume in "Break Away" and "Rainy Day Parade," it almost feels off-putting, much like seeing a walker-bound granny get up and start doing jumping jacks.

The Illusion of Progress is a Staind record in every sense. Anyone who signs up for this should know exactly what they're in for a long ways before they drop about $15 on it.

Again I emphasize, Staind has not changed, doesn't intend to, and really has no practical need to. The band has proven itself time and time again to be one of the most commercially successful acts in rock today, and so long as Lewis continues to be his familiar, miserable self, that shows no signs of changing. C