Boombox Saints

It's hard to talk about Bringin' the Boom Back, the latest offering from Vancouver, BC's Boombox Saints, without lapsing into damnation by faint praise. It's a competent album; the Saints can rap; the beats are sort of okay-ish, soul sample joints; and the sung R&B hooks, of which there are many, are largely on key. The problem is, while Bringin' the Boom Back isn't terrible, it's not very good either. The whole thing is just sort of one bland, undifferentiated mass of slow-to-mid tempo beats that would have sounded hot a decade ago, crooning and Canadians rapping with faux-American accents. Only the head-nodding, poppy "Never Enough" and the stripped-down "Been So Long" stand out. The rest of the album just blends together, and not in a good way.