Live - V

When Live debuted in the mainstream in 1991, the band's earnest alt-rock effort Mental Jewelry balanced high-strung emotions with aggressive guitar work. On the band's fifth album, V, the earnestness has completely disappeared. Everything about this record feels forced and overproduced. Electronic beeps and loops swirl through songs like a U2 record gone bad. Guitar solos squeal in overarching metal-band style, and front man Ed Kowalczyk's vocals are so overdramatically pained, you can almost feel the veins popping off his neck for the most mundane subject matter. Even the band's use of Eastern influences feels slapped on, as in the intro to the nu-metal disaster "Like a Soldier." The guest appearance by Tricky--a partnership that only Kowalczyk's appearance on the last Tricky album can match in oddity--feels like nothing but a gimmick. What started out as a college rock act has sadly become just another attempt at grandiose sound with invisible substance. --Jennifer Maerz