Savant: Nothing Sacred

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * *)

The trouble with the Auckland rock quartet Savant, here on their debut, isn't that they sound like so many American bands of the post-grunge ilk - the feel-my-pain likes of Staind or the I'm-quite-cosmic-I-am anthems of Creed, Nickelback or P.O.D.

It's that as well-drilled and robust as they sound, Savant don't quite recognise their chosen genre as boy's own pop music.

Their 14 tracks sure pour on the riffpower right from the opener Out of Place and the woe-is-me vocal earnestness: "I'm so surprised you haven't shot me dead yet," sings frontman Siah Ngata on Nemesis, "I didn't mean to make you hate me," he adds by way of an apology.

But it's a long slog to find those moments where it transcends the hand-me-down angst and delivers some exciting bits or memorable hooks.

The screaming chorus of Wanted is one, as is the relatively straightforward What I Say, or the inevitable hand-on-heart power-ballad Distance, or the other lighters-aloft number Underground.

But much of this barely breaks out of tribute band territory and it sounds like Savant haven't yet begun to work their way through their influences.

Label: Rajon