Feel good Metal is always nice to come across; it makes for a welcome break from the brooding darkness that comes over you after listening to one too many Black Metal albums. Not that brooding darkness is a bad thing, but it's quite refreshing to hear a band that is fresh and invigorating. LO-PAN provides that break quite nicely and their new album, "Colossus", is a fantastic trip along the more friendly face of metal.

The Ohio based four piece have been around for over ten years now and during that decade they have certainly been busy. They've released four albums and seen more of America than most pioneers ever dreamed was possible. "Colossus" is their second release on label Small Stone Records and it is arguably their best work to date.

Their music plays like some incredible bastard child spawned from an orgy between BLACK STONE CHERRY, PEARL JAM, OFFSPRING and SOUNDGARDEN.  I'm pretty certain at some point during this all out fuck-fest, TOOL turned up and started inserting things into orifices best left unsaid. With that very disturbing image in mind, LO-PAN got some of the best bits from the love juices and would do their fathers proud.

The album kicks off with "Regulus", a song that sounds like it could have come straight out of the 90's grunge era. Not wanting to stay still however, the music jumps around so many influences and just as it starts to get a little predictable, Jeff Martin's vocals seem to take on a Maynard-esque tone and completely changes the timbre of the song. There is plenty of groove drenched over everything for good measure giving the songs such a strong head nodding quality that you find your cranium being dragged into motion, whether you like it or not.

One of the things that makes this such easy listening music, is it's simplicity. There are no absurdly unnecessary solos by any of the band, which is something that is very rare to find these days. The riffs are well crafted but not overly complex and the drums aren't threatening at all, which makes a nice change from the abusive blast beats I have become accustomed to. Needless to say, this is definitely an album that you could play at a family gathering without offending anyone or giving your grandmother a heart attack.

On the whole, I'm sold; LO-PAN is a fantastic band and I can only imagine that their live shows are full of the same kind of raw energy that this album purveys.
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