Third Eye Blind, Puddle of Mudd, 3 Doors Down, Goo Goo Dolls… If, dear reader, you haven’t the least bit of affection for these acts and reserve nothing but disdain for this brand of generic, North American, ‘alternative’ rock, then hesitate to read on. If, however, you are fond of these acts and have a sneaking admiration for their ability to maintain popular adulation in spite of their relatively limited repertoire, then Our Lady Peace’s latest offering might strike a chord.

Entitled Burn Burn, apparently based on a quote from Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel On The Road, OLP’s seventh studio album sees the Canadian rockers exhibiting the same brand of inoffensive, catchy pop-rock that they displayed with previous hit singles Starseed, Superman’s Dead, Clumsy and Somewhere Out There.

The group’s material is admittedly hackneyed but their heart is in the right place and they still sound markedly less whingey than the vast majority of their peers. Frontman Raine Maida maintains that vocal style endemic in American rock circles – a sort of cross between Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 and The Calling’s Alex Band.

Album opener and first single All You Did Was Save My Life sets the tone for the rest of the record – infectious, up-tempo, with the corniest lyrics imaginable; “like the Red Sea you split me open”. It’s a decent start and one which, by and large, Burn Burn lives up to.

The End Is Where We Begin has the kind of uplifting outlook and driving defiance that destines it to be present on the soundtrack of some unbearably saccharine US teen/hospital/courtroom drama series in the near future.

Likewise, White Flags displays all the hallmarks of an anodyne-but-entertaining song, with a fairly clichéd message of “no retreat and no surrendering” that nonetheless will tick a lot of boxes with their target audience.

Nonetheless, as with OLP’s prior records, there’s a lot of desperately unimaginative dirge on Burn Burn. Monkey Brains is suitably primitive, both in subject matter and execution, and is pretty sterile – if there is one song that screams “Filler!”, it’s this one. The record sags dramatically in the middle, with Escape Artist, Refuge and the utterly unconvincing ballad Never Get Over You making up a trio whose only memorable quality is their own overwhelming lack of bite and inspiration.

Burn Burn doesn’t set the world on fire, but anyone who was expecting it to do so probably had stupidly high expectations. At their best, OLP can warm the spirit with their ballads – Paper Moon is a particularly sweet example – while at their worst they come across as Keane copycats – Dreamland sounds for all the world like the kind of crap Tom Caplin and Co. squeeze out on a shockingly regular basis.

Explosive it is not, but maybe Burn Burn has enough of a spark to enflame interest amongst fans of the genre.

- Sebastian Clare

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO FOR BURN BURN'S FIRST SINGLE, ALL YOU DID WAS SAVE MY LIFE: