Two star

Fresh out of LA with their first album, The Calling's publicity people describe their music as 'defiantly upbeat and unsettlingly intimate'.

Sadly it's more defiantly unsettling than anything else.

They're a standard five-piece guitar and drums outfit who have opted for awful American mainstream schlock rock as their music of choice.

Shockingly bland and tedious, most of the songs on the album are slightly sped-up power ballads which sway a little too far into Bryan Adams and Michael Bolton territory.

The rest are just power ballads with no redeeming qualities apart from the fact they aren't country and western.

Sadly songwriters Aaron Karmin (guitar) and Alex Band (vocals) have failed to keep an eye on whether they were coming up with anything remotely interesting in the way of lyrics or melodies. Not good.

JS