was a cool concept to begin with: four classical cellists playing arrangements of songs. But that was their first EP, and that was a long time ago. Now they play instrumental hard rock and bring in guest vocalists, and the returns have diminished. features former vocalist . of shows up for a power ballad that sounds like a performance from a televised country music awards show. When the cellos are fed through pedals, the sound can be quite impressive, like a guitar, but five times more room-filling and powerful. And the members of do use many different effects on their instruments, occasionally creating sounds not unlike those you might hear on a album. The best track on is which features a guest performance by drummer , who drives the music ferociously, like a speeding train straight into hell. But too often, using cellos to play metal riffs (as on which features vocalist of French avant-metallers ) just winds up making the album sound like "A String Tribute to [Insert Metal Band Here]," and not in the cool, rethinking-the-material way that earlier releases did. ~ Phil Freeman