Institute: Distort Yourself : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

As a craftsman of slick pop-rock, former Bush-man Gavin Rossdale is underrated: Shameless Nirvana-wanna-be hits like "Come Down" were some of the late Nineties' most hummable guilty pleasures. But Distort Yourself, the debut from Rossdale's new band, finds him on an ill-fated quest for hard-rock credibility, with incongruous, polished-steel production by Helmet leader Page Hamilton, and dumbed-down riffing by that band's guitarist Chris Traynor. Rossdale's reliably inane lyrics don't help. "She took my mental bones. . . . You know how bad things get when animals attack," he moans, ludicrously, on the ponderous "When Animals Attack." Rossdale's wife, Gwen Stefani, sings some backup vocals on the "Glycerine"-like power ballad "Ambulances," but he shoves her so low in the mix, you wonder if they were fighting that day.