Toxic Lab Rats-Intoxicated

Spectre
2010

Swedish act Toxic Lab Rats play a blend of hard rock and punk that owes much to the likes of Rancid and Dropkick Murphys. They are high on energy and speed, but short in the idea department for both music and lyrics.There is pretty much nothing new to their approach and it's actually quite raw in places. Where they actually do excel to an extent is in the fact that they write some moderately catchy tunes. Also the songs are fairly short and focused. None of the 15 tracks are filler as all manage to be at least decent. The major problem is we have heard all this before probably more than ten years ago. While the album is fine enough the Toxic Lab Rats just are not doing enough to distinguish themselves from their influences and they are not doing anything that you are going to remember them the day after you hear the album. That's fine to do a style you like and draw on bands you love, but if you want to beyond just being a copy you have to step it up a notch and add something of yourself to the sound. Unfortunately there just wasn't enough of that going on here.