If Janus is the god who represents good and bad, then might the new Janus album be the album that represents good and bad?

I’ll be honest: I really wanted to like this CD. As soon as I saw it sitting there in the metal box in our radio station’s office, I snatched it up. Something about the cover artwork signaled to me that this album would be different.

The bright colors, the bright reds, oranges, and yellows on the cover, as well as the picture of the oriental guy on the front, immediately signaled to me that this would be different than the usual derivative pounding metalcore crap that I usually get stuck reviewing. And indeed it was different, but I still can’t help but walk away with the feeling that I wanted something more…
 
Overall, I guess this is a pretty solid metal record. The sound of the guitar is pretty loud and heavy, but it’s not hardcore to the point that causal listeners of rock and hard rock can’t get into it. I’d say they sound a lot like Chevelle with a singer who sounds like the guy from Audiovent or Hoobastank. He has a higher, melodic voice but is able to strike a nice balance. But all in all, I wasn’t able to find anything here that really caught my attention.

The guitar is pretty nice and heavy, but it never really does anything to catch your attention. It just kinda gets pushed into the background and is more or less relegated to the role of a support instrument. I guess what I mean to say is there are no catchy or memorable riffs. It just basically drones on, which is a pretty good way to describe the album as a whole.

So I’d say that this a definitely a solid band with an interesting sound. I think they could have a future, but there just simply isn’t enough variation on this record. My advice would be to take a listen, and if you like it, then go on iTunes and download a track or two, cause once you’ve heard one track you’ve basically heard them all.