Hailing from Brisbane, Australia, the highly-touted hard rock band Ceremony has released a passable but ultimately underwhelming collection of songs for its major label debut.

The self-titled record features a bevy of loud, angry songs about damaged relationships and male angst. A grating and discordant tone, unrelieved by much melody, pervades many of these tracks. For examples, see the opener “Cheese,” the dissonant “Filthy Grudge” and the album’s penultimate offering “See Through.”

Occasional moments of brilliance rise to the surface when the band is able to shift gears. On “Down Day” singer Cameron Brown reigns in his tendency to scream at the top of his lungs and instead delivers a more measured baritone. The result is a hook-laden, straight ahead rock song of significant power.

The melody-heavy “Seventh Wonder” is an obvious candidate for the record’s first single, and “Venom in Denim” could give fellow Aussies Jet—they of “Cold Hard Bitch” fame—a run for their money in the best-song-about-an-anonymous-femme fatale category.

But for the most part, the band stays inside the narrow modern rock bandwidth already occupied by Nickelback, Creed, Buckcherry, 3 Doors Down, et al. Those who’ve heard these bands will find few surprises in Ceremony.

A half dozen or so rather uninspiring songs round out this record: “Free” is a clumsy reflection on terrorism apparently inspired by 9/11, while “Active Mind” is a decent example of the type of music athletes often use to rile themselves up before a big game.

A power ballad, “Left Here All Alone”, attempts to strike a dark, brooding key but ends up bringing to mind Sheriff’s cheesy 1980s hit “When I’m With You”. The lone acoustic number here, “Without You” is an almost poppy dose of pop rock reminiscent of Matchbox Twenty.



Track Listing

Cheese
Filthy Grudge
Seventh Wonder
Active Mind
Left Here All Alone
Another Lost Soul
Down Day
Without You
My Life
Free
See Through
Venom in Denim