Their label characterizes the Numb Ones' music as "dark melodic, glam, mod-punk." As for the bandmembers themselves, they call it "modern chant-core" (as opposed to old-school chant-core?). What this means is that it's rock & roll with hooks rather than without, and with "attitude," whatever that means these days. What matters, as usual, is the hooks, and there are plenty of them here. Some are homegrown, like the soaring harmony vocals on the chorus of "Space and Time" and the highly effective, if dumb as a brick, football-hooligan shout-alongs incorporated into "So Sincere." Some of the hooks are outsourced, like those that power the always irresistible "Just What I Needed," the legendary Cars hit that is given a vigorous shaking here by the Numb Ones' guitar-heavy arrangement. (The program includes two other covers as well, a down-and-dirty take on the Standells' "Try It" and an even downer-and-dirtier version of the Sweet's "Love Is Like Oxygen.") Producer (and Cinderella alumnus) Fred Coury gives the band's sound just the right combination of nimbleness and heavyosity. Recommended.
© Rick Anderson /TiVo