Review Summary: Drowning, but refusing to die.
Strike A Nerve is a hard rock/alt metal album that clutches nu-metal tropes. The angst driven lyrics and yell growled moments like, “Hey! You! Get down in the dirt!” bring to mind retro Sevendust, but Drowning Pool shirk riffs with matching intensity. Rope is the closest they’ve come to sounding like their sacred Sinner era for a long time, but it can’t help being a long forgotten shadow. No-holds butt rock is master here, as though Nickelback and Nonpoint collaborated. It’s the kind of album that would have worked in the early 2000s; Racing To A Red Light feels like an old school Pillar song, for example.
Drowning Pool are reusing the same musical style they’ve played since 2004’s Desensitized. There’s a couple catchy choruses here, but compared to Alter Bridge, Ra, Shinedown, Tremonti, Sevendust and other accomplished rock/metal groups, Drowning Pool can’t compete. They have a mid tier singer, less inspired and frenetic riffs, and nothing unique or modern to their name/sound. Drowning Pool are back - it should be exciting - but it would make little change to their discography if this album never saw the light of day. If we judge Strike A Nerve as either a hard rock or nu-metal album, this is some of the most generic rubbish I’ve heard all year. These Nonpoint leftover riffs aren’t going to impress anyone.
Drowning Pool are once again proving that their legacy is nothing special. Rather than beating the same dead horse they decided to marry it. It brings to mind Three Days Grace’s Explosions which has a newer singer, but no musical evolution whatsoever. I could also compare Drowning Pool to Evanescence in terms of consistency of sound, but at least Evanescence has the beautiful sounding Amy Lee. Drowning Pool have nothing to draw in listeners outside of their “aggression”, which may interest bulky manchildren obsessed with flexing their gains on Instagram. Drowning Pool have not grown up with their audience, and the result certainly strikes a nerve.
In conclusion, this is exactly what I expected from Drowning Pool in 2022, which means I am disappointed once again. It shouldn’t be this way, but I expect new Drowning Pool albums to be boring. These guys are still living off of their fame from Bodies, but have remained inconsequential since then. It’s not a matter of taste to say that Drowning Pool are not producing music at the level they should be. This is another easily skippable album from this tired old band.
