Published on Jun 6, 2006
Remember Bush? Sure you do. The group, lead by Gavin
Rossdale, was one of the most overplayed in the history of music.
Their most recent album release, Golden State, was in 2001,
yet turn on any random rock station and you’re still hearing
“Everything Zen” from their 1994 debut Sixteen Stone.
Apparently, Rossdale isn’t done infecting the
airwaves yet, either, as the first album from his new group
Institute proves. Distort Yourself in fact sounds like one
long Bush single. How you feel about Bush — and again, if you’ve
listened to a radio at any time in the past decade you’ve got an
opinion on Bush, whether or not you know it — determines how this
album will sound to you.
The first single, “Bullet Proof Skin,” sounds just
like Bush’s single “Mouth” from 1996’s Razorblade Suitcase.
It’s just barely edgy enough to sound dark while still fitting into
modern rock radio. It’s a little disappointing that this ended up
being Institute’s representative single, as there’s more impressive
work to be found on the album. The remainder of the disc is largely
Bush-flavored material, though it leans toward a slightly darker
bent than most of Rossdale’s previous work. “Come On Over,”
“Seventh Wave” and “Save the Robots” are the highlights; the rest
is pretty bland. “Come On Over” is probably the best song here and
would have made a better opening single.
Institute is a by-the-numbers pop-rock post-grunge
group, much like Bush. The music in general is inoffensive and
sounds ready-made for radio. On the downside, there is no
experimentation or even variation on the general Bush sound,
meaning if you like that group, you’ll like this. Everyone else,
though, will find Distort Yourself nothing more than
solidly, predictably mediocre.