Review: The latest Stone Temple Pilots comeback lacks bite

The remaining members of Stone Temple Pilots with new singer, Jeff Gutt, second from left.

After two albums of pure sludge in the early 90s, San Diego rockers Stone Temple Pilots did something no one expected: they got weird. Super weird.

Released in 1996, Tiny Music ... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop split the band's fan base at the time.

But it remains the group's best work, an album that dialled back the grungy angst and introduced cruisey Beatles melodies that played off beautifully against Scott Weiland's scratchy howl. Long story short, Stone Temple Pilots were best when they did their own thing.

Here, on their first album with new vocalist Jeff Gutt, a former X Factor contestant who replaces Weiland after his drug overdose death in 2015, they simply seem to be turning on the karaoke machine.

Yes, if you close your eyes it seems like Gutt's channelling the spirit of the band's late frontman, especially on Meadow and Never Enough, songs that come with a brief glimpse of the STP of old but never escape second gear.

Much of their seventh album, their first since 2010, just plods, especially when they slow things down for ballads like Thought She'd Be Mine and Finest Hour.

A lack of raw fire, or straight up weirdness, wasn't something that was a problem on previous Stone Temple Pilots albums. Sadly, this just proves how special Scott Weiland really was.

Stone Temple Pilots- Stone Temple Pilots

Label: Atlantic
Verdict: Popular rockers turn on the karaoke machine