Practically unknown, The Sammus Theory tries to top their debut album, Man Without Eyes, with their latest release, See (it) Through. The band’s lineup, fronted by vocalist Sammus, tries its hand at the hard rock/alternative rock genre. After listening to a few tracks it becomes obvious that bands like Linkin Park and Godsmack influence this Idaho-based group’s sound.

The vocals on the album are on par with most other hard rock vocals, never going above or beyond anything that is expected. Sammus keeps his voice low during the verses, only to increase the intensity once the choruses come around, something many hard rock vocalists do. The problem with this is that it’s just been done too many times before; after a while, it starts to become unoriginal.

The instruments are another thing on the album that never goes above expectations. Merely keeping the beat the majority of the time, the guitarists never do anything extraordinary besides play the same hard rock riffs that have been heard a million times before. However, with the guitars taking a step back, the bass has a chance to step forward, oftentimes playing its own distinguished bass lines over the guitars. This is a nice change of pace for modern rock music, where the bass is usually tuned out to make room for the guitars. The only problem is that the bass lines get repetitive and boring, not taking advantage of the opportunity. As for the drums, they just keep the pace, no more, no less.

The entire sound of The Sammus Theory is just too generic. This isn’t saying the band isn’t talented: Sammus has great potential on vocals and the bassist can definitely groove if he chooses to, but it’s just that the group doesn’t do anything to distinguish itself from the onslaught of other hard rock groups flooding the airwaves nowadays. By the third track anyone will swear that he or she has heard that song somewhere before. Don’t expect anything new from this album.