With
White Light, White Heat, White Trash
,
Social Distortion
made a conscious attempt to cash in on the alternative "revolution" of the early '90s." Underneath the layers of glossy
hard rock
production, the band still hold fast to some of their
punk
roots, but too often they sound like a heavy
band. Of course, that commercial sheen is intentional -- it's the only way they could appeal to the legions of
post-grunge
alternative fans who appeared since
released
Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell
in 1991. The problem is, the band doesn't deliver enough songs to justify the production.
Mike Ness
still wails away and growls out confessional lyrics, but too often they are ham-fisted and cliched, much like the music that supports them. The band sounds tight and muscular, but the songs have few hooks to make them memorable. In trying to appeal to a wider audience,
have lost much of their identity on
. ~ Stephen Thomas ErlewineR 7263