Eighteen Visions

Reviews of Eighteen Visions' recent Obsession invariably liken the Hot Topic heartthrobs to Stone Temple Pilots. That would be an encouraging comparison for a fledgling glam-grunge hybrid, but because 18V once played concrete-cracking hardcore, some longtime fans bristle at hearing the band's bazooka breakdowns replaced by a velvet revolver. Eighteen Visions has not, in fact, become a headbanging boy band, despite its fondness for adorable matching outfits. But it has softened its sound, smothering its howls with a plush, melodic pillow. Lyrically, not much has changed. Lead singer James Stephen Hart remains filled with angry horrors and so-called murders. But he can be subtly subversive, a trait best illustrated on the catchy unplugged anthem "The Critic," which savages pre-emptive strikes directed at just the sort of purist who would go apoplectic about acoustic hookfests.