Opening with a funky synthetic break beat, Collective Soul's new album, Disciplined Breakdown, momentarily tricks you into thinking it's a trip-hop compilation or, say, the new U2 album. When a boogie guitar riff slashes into the mix, though, it's clear we're back in familiar Collective Soul territory, a formula established on the band's 1994 breakthrough hit, "Shine": guitars rocking hard enough for AOR radio combined with enough ethereal vocalizing and soul-searching poses to satisfy the "alternative" set. "Shine" also displayed Collective Soul's derivativeness, the biggest hurdle between the band and artistic credibility – at times, the track seemed less a song and more a stew of Soundgarden's meat-cleaver guitar, Smashing Pumpkins' spacey ambience and generic Southern-fried hip shake.

Unfortunately, Collective Soul don't make it over that hurdle on Breakdown. With its spiritual lyrics and varied studio-made textures, Breakdown appears to be a serious attempt at musical legitimacy, yet the band seems content to mimic other bands' creative advances. U2's shadow is the longest here – from the dance beats on "Precious Declaration" to "Maybe's" shameless appropriation of the Edge's chiming guitar sound, Collective Soul can't shake the influence of Dublin's most famous band. "Maybe" and "In Between" even feature a chord progression disturbingly similar to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." Collective Soul don't stop at U2, however. "Full Circle" cops Peter Gabriel's distinctively reedy vocal sound, while the title track's distorted confessional tone overtly recalls Nine Inch Nails. The end result is a polished mishmash that recalls an alternative-rock Top 40 countdown more than an actual album. The proceedings aren't helped by pseudospiritual, warmed-over Jesus Christ Superstar lyrics such as, "I was blind, but now I see/Salvation has discovered me."

There are some glimmers of hope: '70s-style monster-rock guitar hooks that would make Jimmy Page proud pop up sporadically, giving otherwise-predictable alt-rock workouts (such as the title track) some life. One wishes that Collective Soul had moved more in the direction suggested by Breakdown's one truly great track, "Crowded Head." The song merges Beatlesque pop rock with jubilantly heavy riffing, adding some unapologetically old-school guitar wankage for good measure. After so much pomp and circumstance, the standard-issue yet exuberant rock aesthetics of "Crowded Head" suggest that maybe 1997 needs another Cheap Trick rather than still more entries in the endless parade of half-baked U2 wanna-be's. As it stands now, though, Disciplined Breakdown just isn't better than the real thing. (RS 757)

MATT DIEHL