Creed - My Own Prison (Epic) Creed are a young, enthusiastic bunch, but one come late to the grunge-fest inspired by Nirvana and all their acolytes.
Creed peddle the sort of dirge-rock led by gravelly, I-feel-so-sorry-for-myself and isn't-the-world-awful? vocals made popular by, well, Nirvana.
Their other influences are also about as difficult to spot as an elephant hiding behind a lamp-post: Judas Priest, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Metallica, but most of all, when the grunge facade drops, Hootie and the Blowfish, making theirs a type of rock with a mucky face and a marshmallow underbelly.
Other influences claimed are Led Zeppelin and Rush, although Creed can aspire to neither the former's power, balance and originality, nor the latter's intricate melody and inspired lyrics.
But they must be doing something right: although most tracks here are indistinguishable, Creed seem highly MTV friendly and this, their debut album, picked up from an independent label, re-recorded and re-released, went platinum soon after its reappearance.
Be that as it may, to these ears My Own Prison still sounds like spotty teenage angst-rock.