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Short catchy songs are what The New Black is all about. This is their second album and listening to it, you won't guess that they hail from Germany. You would expect them to be born in the USA. Why? Because the style is pure American. The postgrunge of bands like Nickelback with roaring rock leads as we know it from Aerosmith and this all in metallic style the Disturbed way.

Before the songs become repetitive, they stop; just short and direct. The vocal performance of Markus Hammer is good; he has a clean sound with a harsh bite. The biggest problem with the album could be that the songs are all at the same (high) level, most of the times mid-tempo with singable choruses. There are no songs that really stand out.

"Batteries & Rust" and "Downgrade" have nice heavy guitar riffs and several songs start very soft and become a lot heavier half-way, like the track "Into Modesty". The song "Altar Boys" is packed full with harmonica and that gives it a southern vibe. "Happy Zombies" is a power ballad with acoustic parts and "When It All Ends" is a very soft ballad kind of track too, which reminds me a bit of Faith No More. Fortunately the next song is in Disturbed style again and the last song is heavier too.

All together this second album is a good one, it has nice singable choruses, but if you ask me to sing a few refrains, I have to pass. Perhaps the only problem with this album is that the tracks don't really stick. Germans, done the American way!

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