Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

This Ann Arbor quartet's sophomore effort find things a bit toned down from their initial offering, and, perhaps, needing to take better control of their own destinies. WELCOME was produced by Toby Wright, who has produced the late, lamented, and to this day underrated Alice In Chains, as well as Korn and Metallica. The Chains influence is certainly evident here. Although this CD was only recently released, I've seen it listed on a couple Ten Best of 2002 lists already. Not, however, on mine.

The problem here is not with the band's technical prowess (though, given the wizardy that takes place in the studios these days, who knows?) or even with their influences. They could certainly do worse. The problem, alas, is that the hooks seem to have been left in the tacklebox. The tracks lumber heavily from one to the next, with little to distinguish one from the other. This is really unfortunate; Taproot demonstrates a good --- make that an excellent --- sense of dynamics. Things do pick up a bit on "Fault" where the guys get down to basics and show what they can really do when they're not experimenting with signature changes. In fact, "Fault" is such a good track that it's obvious that it didn't happen by accident. Similarly, "Dreams" sacrifices nothing on the intensity scale but is a memorable and menacing work, with the whispered line "Come on come on/Wake up wake up" reverberating long after the less memorable "Time" ends the CD. These guys are capable of greater, great things. The ingredients --- musicianship, craft, vocals --- are all there. They just need to be more fully coalesced.

Maybe Taproot has come too far too fast. This might sound weird to say about a band that waited four years to "make it" but if I were to hazard a guess their original band vision might be the victim of a corporate hijacking. These guys are still young, and have some time. Underneath the frequent mess that is WELCOME there's something happening. It just needs to come together better.