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The Distillers - Coral Fang

So Brody Dalle (not Homme quite yet) jumps to the majors and decides she wants to be Courtney Love, exchanging the punk fury for a more polished sound this time around. The vocals are cranked way up in the mix and the grunge of the guitars is rubbed out in a nearly vomit-inducing studio sheen. This ain't the down and nasty Distillers you've grown to love. Song titles like "The Gallow is God" and "Drain the Blood" make you think Brody is up to the usual, but the anger and fury in her voice is replaced with a cliched wanna-be punk voice. Which is a shame, since her growling through songs like "Sick of It All" on the last album are what endeared her to the hearts of punk fans everywhere. Critics who bashed Brody for imitating Tim Armstrong's vocals in the past, may be heartened that she's changed her sound somewhat for this album - but for fans it's a disappoint to hear her croaking like a stoned Courtney Love. Girl, you had something going there. Did you want to sell out that bad? I normally hate using the term "sell out" in a review, but one can't escape the spectre of that idea running through this album - shimmering poduction, poppy melodies, and downtempo acoustic backed tracks lead one to believe she was shooting for a greater audience with this release. Not to mention the fact that the entire backing band has been replaced for the major label debut. The thing is, if she really is hoping for major stardom - few of these tracks are engaging enough to gain any momentum. Sure, some tracks like the title song and "Beat Your Heart Out" rock like the Distillers of old, but it's inconsitently enough to throw off the flow of the album. About the most engaging thing on the album is "Deathsex", the album closer - a 12 minute Sonic Youth styled distortion and volume exercise.