Review: Nickelback saps rock's spirit

I'm still looking for the rock show, because all I found last night was a Dr. Phil session with pyrotechnics.

There were about 7,000 people in the DECC Arena who might disagree with me, but the nu metal song formula repeated by Nickelback, Trapt and Default on Monday night seemed as worn out as Courtney Love's parole officer.

The evening celebrated over-arranged, unoriginal music by bands who claim in their press materials to be influenced by the likes of Pantera, Metallica and Led Zeppelin. If Bonzo were still alive, he'd throw all of last night's wussies out of his hotel room window for writing songs that go against rock music's core: Experimentation and rebellion.

Granted, the show included a few moments of arena rockdom, especially when headliner Nickelback brought out their oldest stuff. Exhibit A: ``Never Again,'' a strutter with the type of pulsating drum kit that makes the blood in your veins pump to the beat. On that number, lead singer Chad Kroeger had a gritty, James Hetfield quality to his voice. And talk about sweet pyro! When the row of flames shot up from the stage, they torched the air all the way into the nosebleeds.

Unfortunately, the set focused on the lesser songs from the new disc, ``All The Right Reasons,'' and tunes from their breakout CD, 2001's ``Silver Side Up,'' which included ``How You Remind Me.''

After proving they're capable of that rock 'n' roll moment, why, in Judas Priest's name, would Nickelback mess with craptacular ballads like ``Photograph''? The song's a huge radio hit because it's about nostalgia for the good ol' days. So was ``Paradise City,'' and somehow Guns n' Roses accomplished the same level of wistfulness without sounding like Celine Dion sat in on their writing gigs.

The problem is that bands like Nickelback emerged as grunge's hangover, a reaction to Nirvana and Pearl Jam instead of a step forward. Taking metal and merging it with touchy-feely lyrics is like mating a horse and a donkey. A mule does the job, but don't forget: It's sterile.

Opening act Default set the tone for a night of PC rock, saved only by sizzling licks by guitarist Jeremy Hora and the to-the-back-row performance of bassist Dave Benedict. With a huge mohawk and jumps that must've been learned at some cheerleader camp for badasses, Benedict was so magnetic he could've pulled the bolts right out of the auditorium walls.

Trapt, on the other hand, kept starting out with these driving instrumentals and getting my hopes up, only to fall into the soggy, melodramatic verses of the nu metal song formula. Songs such as ``Disconnected (Out Of Touch)'' start with guitar bursts that conjure up the angst of Rage Against the Machine, then give way to verses that might as well be sung by Ryan Cabrera on topics including cliched traumas, inability to communicate and fear of opening up again.

If these navel-gazing nu metal bands don't a) start re-discovering the spirit of rock and b) stop hogging the radio waves, I just may need Dr. Phil yet.

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