Samiam: You Are Freaking Me Out

Samiam has toiled for 10 years, and for what To be relegated to the seemingly limitless scrap heap of average pop-punk bands It's sad but true. The promise shown on Samiam's better releases, like Soar, has evaporated, and in its place comes a half-hearted stab at The Money. You Are Freaking Me Out trades tinny punk for the bigger, potentially more marketable sound of Foo Fighters combining with Cheap Trick. The group's lyrics suggest at least a modicum of intelligence, and its members have always been capable players, so why don't they put that extra something into their music, like originality or fire Every song on You Are Freaking Me Out shares the simple chords and vocal harmonizing of countless other generic alternative hits. If Samiam wants to turn its back on punk in order to be arena rockers, that's fine. It still has to do better than this.