If it's not from the South and it doesn't rock, can you still call it Southern Rock? This isn't the kind of question one might usually ask, but it's one that's been rudely thrust upon me by The Suntanama, a platoon of New Yorkers who fancy themselves the second coming of the Allman Brothers. The Allmans were always the best of the Southern Rockers-- the way they mixed in jazz and a good degree of strong, concise songwriting easily set them apart from their peers-- but The Suntanama don't have any of the sense of craft or impact that their predecessors did.
The title of this album should tell you all you need to know: Another. That's all it is, really; another Suntanama album, nearly as formless and muddled as the self-titled trainwreck they released last year. There are improvements to be found on the band's sophomore disc, certainly-- vocalist Darren Zoltowski is only inhumanely irritating on a couple of songs, for instance-- but by and large, it's the same old dreck. Guitars that should be delivering incisive solos wander aimlessly, searching for melodic contour (this time with more delay!), and a competent rhythm section wastes itself backing a band that forgets to write a melody every time.
Zoltowski has mellowed considerably in the year since The Suntanama debuted on an unsuspecting world-- last year's model was an entirely unintelligible, gravel-throated bleat; this year, he's settled down to the point where he's almost gotten around to singing real melodies, and even reaches for a Bob Dylan bark at times, usually even pronouncing the words he's singing. The band also works itself into enough of a focused frenzy at the end of "The 3 of 3's" that his multitracked shouting sounds kind of good for a few seconds.
The more I listen to these guys, the harder it gets to tell if their ineptitude is unintentional or calculated-- they seem almost afraid of riffs and hooks, and the way they run away from anything interesting that starts to arise from their listless jamming makes it feel like some post-ironic joke only the band is in on. While Another isn't quite as horrific as their first album, it's only marginally better, and just as forgettable.
