Nickelback's frontman Chad Kroeger had much to do with this, Theory of a Deadman's self-titled debut. He signed them up, coproduced, and cowrote six of the 10 tracks here, so you'd expect the album to possess similar pop-metal sensibilities to his own million-selling outfit. As it happens, TOAD (oops--there's an unfortunate acronym) are even closer to the pop mainstream. Ostensibly, they're a grunge band. Singer, songwriter and evident main-man Tyler Connolly sounds much akin to Eddie Vedder and Scott Weiland, while big guitars churn away in the background. But there is none of Nirvana's punk ethos here, no political conviction, no rage. Connolly's troubles are all with girls, and his band--uninterested in pulverising or surprising the audience--follow the famous Roxette dictum "Don't bore us, get to the chorus". Indeed, they follow it so well that the album's only 36 minutes long. It would be wrong to criticise TOAD for what they're not. As a modern pop-rock band, they're well-produced and Connolly has delivered a string of sing-along melodies sure to appeal to the mainstream millions. "Make Up Your Mind" and "Say I'm Sorry" are reasonably explosive, as is the single "Nothing Could Come Between Us", while "The Last Song", with its sweeping strings, is epic pop-rock. This'll be a big hit, for sure. --Dominic Wills
