Insipid - (adjective) Without distinctive, interesting or stimulating qualities; vapid. In the writing business, we call that a "definition lead." It's a shortcut professors teach in journalism school to help out a writer stuck trying to come up with a lead. Simply pick a word that sets the mood and foreshadows the story a bit, and then type up that definition. voila! Now you're cooking (or writing) with gas.

In this instance, I felt insipid was a wise choice. The TASTER's "Reckless Till the End" is a swan dive into the surprisingly successful wave of Deathcore / Metalcore / Whatevercore that the kids are going crazy for today. The album is 11 tracks, and most are three to four minutes long. For those who have sat through a nu-Metalcore type album, these songs will definitely sound familiar.

The entire affair seems to be something of a formulaic balancing act. Generally, the opening of a song is thick riffing and screamed/growled vocals while the choruses are clean vocals and catchy music. To me the songs seem to have been written consciously to include heavy parts for the guys and the crooning vocals and melodies for the gals.

And frankly I've heard 90 percent of the flair and tricks that the TASTERS utilize here. Auto-tuned vocals, chunky crab-core riffing and even some gang vocals are included. The main deviation is the band's use of electronic elements. Techno drumbeats will sometimes drive a song, and frequently electro flourishes will fade in and out. There's also a bit of keyboard and piano used during the album as well.

"Sleeping With Giants" is especially electrified. Even during the stone-heavy opening, there's still string of techno flavoring in the tune. After the first 25 seconds, an electro drumbeat and a keyboard make up most of the music. Also, the final two tracks on the album are an interesting one-two punch that breaks the formula here. "Lonely" actually stays heavy from start to beginning, and "First Time" is a moody tune that includes only clean vocals.

There are so many moving parts in these songs that it often ends up sounding like a recording studio manufactured product. In this instance, I'm left wondering how much of the TASTERS' sound is talent and ability, and how much is knob-twiddling production.

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