Is it a hit, *hit or miss?

S.T.U.N. - Evolution Of Energy by Dan Grote

S.T.U.N. - Evolution Of Energy 
Label: Geffen Records
Hit, *hit or Miss?:  Hit
Rating: 

Some sample lyrics from S.T.U.N.’s major-label debut:

“We are just a moment away!” (from “Movement”) – from what?

“What do you do when it comes for you?” (from “Annihilation of the Generations”) – when what comes for me?

“Our time is finally here, the new visions are clear” (from “Boredom”– what are these visions?

Okay, so something’s out to get me, and there’s going to be a rebellion against it. Can you give any specifics, sirs? No? Hmm…

It’s very easy to write S.T.U.N. (short for Scream Towards the Uprising of Non-conformity – is that even a cogent sentence?) off as they next great rebellious punk act with their quasi-politically charged agro-rock. But if you notice, for all their talk of revolution and “the space between our minds has been corrupted,” there’s no real discussion of what’s wrong or how to fix it. And in an age where kids’ idea of protest music is Rage against the Machine and System of a Down’s scaring us with talk of building a giant “prison for you and me,” S.T.U.N.’s act comes off more like hard-core punk nostalgia than revolution rock, and even then, it can’t be too much like hard-core punk because the lyrics are pretty decipherable.

Don’t get the wrong idea, Evolution of Energy rocks. You can crank this and dream about fashioning yourself a mohawk and perpetually sneering, but if they’re not talking about some kind of broadly-defined underground movement, they’re actually off hugging trees, especially on songs like “Here Comes the Underground” wherein frontman Neil Spies warbles “the only solution is piece for everyone” and, on “Love and Chaos,” “Can you see love taking over the world?”

VERDICT: There’s a scene in High Fidelity where John Cusack’s character mockingly asks Jack Black’s “Oh, and what are your influences, Nirvana, the Sex Pistols?” And perhaps that’s because it’s easy to be influenced by seminal bands and to claim them as influences, especially if your lyrics and instruments are nothing but note-for-note homages. A perusal of the band’s bio almost immediately claims the Clash and the Pistols in their personal pantheon (along with Jane’s Addiction, oddly enough). And while they sure are screaming enough about the corruption of the youth; they’re hardly the new Only Band That Matters. S.T.U.N. certainly deserve more than an E for Effort, but if they’re such society-hating rebels, then why is there a notice on my copy that says I can’t play it in my computer? There’s certainly nothing revolutionary about copy protection.

Tracks: Transmission Movement Annihilation Of The Generations Here Comes The Underground Boredom Love & Chaos Reuters Watch The Rebellion Grow We Want You Future Is Now, The Illegal Operations We Will Come To You

Listen to samples and Purchase this CD online