Grade: C- | Genre: Modern Rock Summary: I can only hope that after the excessive noodling and doodling they have served up this time, this once-impressive, fun, up-tempo bunch of guys can get back to what they do so well...writing catchy, memorable tunes. All the hubbub that surrounded The Strokes sophomore release, Room On Fire, for being too short in length seems to have weighed heavy on the bands tousled heads. On the group's latest and least interesting album, First Impressions Of Earth, Singer/Songwriter Julian Casablancas has penned 14 new tunes almost as if to silence former critics. Nice try. Apparently for The Strokes, more is less. What was once a very cool sound (as New York as the band The Velvet Underground from whom they take nearly every cue) has been chucked in an attempt to mature and expand their horizons. They have only made it clearer how good the last release really was.

I never had a problem with Room On Fire. which at least had some really good songs on it with a couple real jewels thrown in for taste. Personally, I blame the package design, an aimless smattering of ugly graphics that look like bad high school art, for that records unpopularity.

It stood in stark contrast to the censored cover of the first album's Mapplethorpe-esque naughty nudity, a concept later replaced with cheap fractal graphics. Despite the cover art, what's so great about "Is This It," a debut as strong as the Modern Lovers legendary first outing, was its lack of pretension and its wealth of tuneful hooks. Length was not a concern. Solid grooves were the bottom line.

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There are a couple moments of impressive artistry. Listen to "Juicebox" and you can almost hear where this band might have headed. A driving guitar riff reminiscent of Swervedriver pushes the song towards the finish line. Casablancas screams the lyrics in his patented soar throat delivery like he's going to swallow the mike. On many of the songs, Julian tries in vain to match the new heaviness with this dry throated wail. I had to will myself to continue to let the record spin. As for that other moment of artistry...I'm still looking for it.

The Strokes are beginning to look like one trick ponies, and Casablancas just sounds bored by it all. On the softer numbers, like the horrendous "Ask Me Anything," his Lou Reed imitation slips into near parody. He sings, "I've got nothing to say," over and over as if he were Lou after one too many cocktails in a piano bar. What the band obviously thinks is a clever lyric about apathy translates into painful blandness for the listener.

The album comes with a very overworked lyric sheet that's part poster, part head-trip. It's a colorful, graphics-heavy series of disjointed illustrations made to give lyrics like, "I'm tired of everyone I know/of everyone I see/on the street/and on TV," the weight they so sorely lack.

Although there are exceptions, it's usually not a good sign when a record's graphics are so overblown. This generally translates into a mediocre or just plain bad product. Famous flops of the past that I recall being excited about before the first listen include, "The Raven" by The Stranglers and "Anything" by The Damned. Both are in the mediocre category of those band's releases and both have clever, artsy covers. First Impressions Of Earth will most like be filed next along side them.

Packaging aside, I see The Strokes -- Mark III as their difficult second album. The first two could be compiled together as a double platter as Phase One (in which Doris gets her oats!). I can only hope that after the excessive noodling and doodling they have served up this time, this once-impressive, fun, up-tempo bunch of guys can get back to what they do so well...writing catchy, memorable tunes.

It's not exactly Get Behind Me Satan! appalling, but prepare to be under-whelmed.

Release Date: January 3, 2006