They just sound bored. [Feb 2005, p.98]

Practically drips with misery. [June 2002, p.112]

It sets Vast Of Cheers up as just another cookie cutter indie band. [Jul 2012, p.96]

All this introspection wouldn't be so bad if Stained put a bit of oomph behind it, but the musical changes lack dynamism and frame the groaning vocals almost reverentially. [#180, p.111]

Overall the glory years seem a long way off and metal fatigue sets in long before the end of its 63 minutes. [Aug 2014, p.108]

The band's punk credentials are immaculate. But that doesn't make them any more fun to listen to. [Feb 2007, p.99]

It's incontestably menopausal, but fairly dapper with it. [Oct 2006, p.122]

If they're not stressing about anything, neither will the listener, meaning meager traces remain when it's finished. [Dec 2013, p.105]

They're unpleasantly listenable. [Jul 2012, p.103]

Mostly, it's just not interesting enough to hold the listener's attention throughout. [Aug 2008, p.139]

Like Leto's performance in the risible Suicide Squad, the result is unsubtle, self-important and not half as good as it thinks it is. [Jun 2018, p.106]

An underwhelming, cursory thing. [Mar 2002, p.125]

It might propel them deeper into the mainstream, but the artistic price doesn't seem worth paying. [Jun 2017, p.105]

There are strong cameos from assorted MCs, particularly Juicy J and Schoolboy Q, but his attempt to talk a girlfriend into a threesome on Story Time is proof there are even worse things in life than dabbling in Eurodance. [Apr 2015, p.108]

Choruses fizzle, lyrics fail to engage and every song is at least a minute too long. [Jun 2013, p.102]

The Fifth sounds like half a dozen different [albums] squashed onto one record. Not good. [Nov 2013, p.115]

There's too little oomph to suggest they'll bother the scorers. [Jul 2017, p.114]

It's just a little underwhelming. [Nov 2013, p.115]

Though Blank's album is full of hits and misses, it's rarely dull. [Aug 2009, p.103]

[The album] is full of reductive, radio-friendly hard rock. [Nov 2012, p.86]

Former Simian singer Simon Lord and Wiseguys mainman Theo Keating fail to do justice to the idea. [Aug 2008, p.132]

Hologram's monotone new wave reeks of a school band rehearsal, released into the wild before its time and without its signature song. [Aug 2012, p.100]

Pleasantly pointless. [Aug 2006, p.116]

Amusing on first listen but--as with so many records sold on amusing wordplay alone--it doesn't stand up to repeated exposure. [Feb 2010, p.105]

Weighted by retro production that gets bogged down in neo-soul moves reminiscent of Sade, though, inspiration flickers throughout without ever reaching full illumination. [Jun 2014, p.118]

The intro to the title track points more toward Foreigner, an impression that continues on the album as dull keyboards fill the spaces once plugged by more interesting acoustic arrangements. [Aug 2016, p.108]

Magna Carta... Holy Grail isn't a dreadful record but it's a redundant one. [Sep 2013, p.103]

The title track and Just Me stand out for their bubbly rhythms, but otherwise this feels grey an mopey. [Mar 2017, p.108]