Nonpoint's eponymous seventh album sees them moving ever closer to the corporate rock of
Nickelback or
3 Doors Down, which may seem like a long way removed from their Floridian nu-metal roots alongside
Limp Bizkit,
Cold, and other musical crimes against humanity, but shouldn't shock nearly as much as the band's astonishing endurance through the years. Face it, you just can't get rid of these guys! But staying on point --
Nonpoint -- it should be noted that typical new offerings like "Lights, Camera, Action," "Left for You," and "Go Time" actually retain the rhythmic thrust and poorly barked raps of nu-metal, even as they simultaneously pine for mainstream radio acceptance with more emphatic melodies and repetitive choruses. The even more restrained, acoustic guitar-laced "Another Mistake" shows even greater affinity for the corporate rock tycoons cited above, leaving no doubt that
Nonpoint will gleefully embrace that audience if it embraces them, and will then just as eagerly move on to pop/rock, dance music or, heck, the "Macarena," if that's where the money is. After all,
Nonpoint always had their eye on riding trending bandwagons, and even though just two original members are still around (those being
Elias Soriano and drummer
Robb Rivera), that philosophy clearly overrides all else on this self-titled release. And why not? It sure seems that going with the flow keeps working for
Nonpoint, someway, somehow. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia