Review

If you’re a fan of The Exies previous album, Inertia, or if you’re just a fan of mediocre rock albums, you’re going to love this. It’s better than their first album but not a great achievement by any means. What reason do we have to ‘head for the door?’

The Exies achieved semi-stardom in 2003 with their first major label release, Inertia. Riding the single “My Goddess,” the band reached the Top 10 on MTV2 but could have easily been dismissed as another one-hit wonder. When Virgin Records released their second album, Head for the Door, they put an end to that speculation. However, their 15 minutes are only stretching thinner and thinner as the months pass.

Head for the Door is a stripped down, raw, rock album with none of that extra, overproduction crap. The reason the album sounds so much like Velvet Revolver or Stone Temple Pilots is not because Dean Deleo of STP discovered the band, as the rumor says. However, they did tour with Velvet Revolver and the new album has the same producer, Nick Raskulinecz (Velvet Revolver, Foo Fighters). Naturally, lead singer Scott Stevens is no Scott Weiland and the rest of The Exies won’t stand the test of time, at least not with this album, so there’s no further need to compare them.

The album’s first single, “Ugly,” is a good radio hit with a typical self-deprecating radio message. “We are dirt, we are alone / You know we are far from sober / We are fake, we are afraid,” and it goes on from there with no redeeming qualities other than being catchy. In the 10th spot is the token slow song, “Tired of You.” That’s cool, do a slow song, but don’t put it where every other rock album puts it and don’t write a crappy one. The song lacks any real, heartfelt meaning. Stevens basically sings about his weariness of everything from “breathing” to “running” but (insert romantic sigh) he’s not tired of his girl—“But I’m not tired of you.” It, like the album, is mediocre and unoriginal. In the end it works out to be an okay album, but no more than that. So, do as the album title might persuade you to do—head for the door. Go get some munchies, go take a walk, go get the new Green Day album, but don’t go get this album unless you’re a fan of second-class rock with 15 bucks.

Review by Rob Todd

3 out of 5