Slowride formed in the early double zeros in Lawrence, a town in the United States by Dan Phillips (vocals/guitar), Rob Marchant (Bass) and Steve Visneau (Drums). Armed with a bunch of influences from Jawbreaker to Pennywise they hit the studio in 2002 to record As I Survive The Suicide Bomber, which is a fantastic title for our current times in the crazy new millennium.

That originality didn't stick around for long though, judging from Slowride's brand spanking new album C/S. In case you are wondering, the C/S stands for "con safos" which translates to "don't mess with this". Pretty original, eh?

Sure, C/S evokes some attitude with their garage rock. Sure, their sometimes bittersweet melodies and break-neck riffs evoke some intensity. But, regardless of what the press release tells me – this album is far from refreshing. Any of this kind of stuff I can get from listening to Slowride's mentors, such as Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters or Pennywise. So, what will make the record buying public want to listen to Slowride?

To be completely honest there wasn't a lot on this album, which transfixed me. Nothing reached out of my speakers and smacked me around the head and stole my heart and made me come back and listen to more. All the songs plod along at the same pace except for a two or three slower numbers, including the quite lovely Murals And Dogm which was the first song on C/S that woke me up and made me listen. Rust Killer and It's Good To Be Back are another two slight standouts but nothing that'll make me listen on loop all day long.

The closer of this album 30 East almost sounds like a James Blunt moment, however instead of meeting the girl on a subway with another man, Phillips meets a model "with short hair and long legs in short shorts" on a road "up on 30 but not the exit road". He was going to offer her a lift but he only sees her for a few seconds and never sees her again. The song strums along at a slow, country pace and finishes the album off in quite a cheesy style.

C/S doesn't offer anything amazingly innovative or compelling. The songs crunch along at their own pace, without really saying a lot that hasn't been said before. The energy is there in the recording, but Slowride just couldn't grab me with it. Maybe if the album went against its title and was messed with a little bit more, they'd have something more worthwhile and refreshing to come back to.