The story of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves is one of the folk tales from One Thousand and One Nights. You know this story: Ali Baba is the poor but honest son of a woodcutter. He happens upon the den of the 40 thieves, sneaks in with the magic words "open sesame," and then kills the thieves with the help of a faithful slave-girl. He then marries the girl and keeps the treasure and is presumably no longer poor. A burglar and murder, but not poor. That story. THE 40 THIEVES is also a Nu-Metal band from Saint City, Switzerland. They released their debut full-length, "The White Album," on November 4, 2022 on WormDeathHole Records.

And in case you are thinking maybe the Nu-Metal categorization is an error on my part, promo material describing the band's origin states: "They started to write songs that would be a mixture of CREED and LINKIN PARK." Now, for most Metal fans, those are the opening lines of a horror story, not the good kind that Clive Barker or Laird Barron spin, but rather the kind that you see on the Hallmark Channel. Cringy and depressing. To cap it off, the band presents an American West affectation-kind of a bad boy, outlaw aesthetic. Feels like a bad marketing ploy, but who knows? Could legitimately be their thing.

So, we'll make this straightforward simple. If you like Nu-Metal, euphemistically known as Modern Heavy Rock, you might like these guys. "The White Album" (really? Not reaching too far there?) features 11 tracks and clocks out at about 49 minutes. It includes an alternative version of "Show Me Love" which appeared on their January 2022 EP "Echos" as well as a bonus live track of "My Sacrifice" (CREED). The tracks are about love of all sorts-unrequited love, inspirational love, sacrificial love, and, of course, unconditional love.

Can't say I liked "The White Album" or THE 40 THIEVES, but I also don't like Nu-Metal, so there never was much of chance. I can say the production values are good-so their music comes through nice and crisp. They all seem competent enough musicians. What else? Clean vocals with lots of range. And that's it. I'm sure they'll be wildly successful and even get some radio play or a soundtrack gig. God help them, and us.