Scars and Souvenirs, the third album from
Theory of a Deadman, sounds like a rehash of the band's first two albums -- which is to say that it sounds like
Nickelback.
Chad Kroeger signed them to his 604 Records label in 2001, and throughout
Scars and Souvenirs,
Theory of a Deadman draw upon the melodies, vocals, choruses, and riffs of
Kroeger and company. Many examples abound, but the best is "Not Meant to Be," a song whose melody and chorus bear more than a passing resemblance to
All the Right Reasons' "Rockstar." Like their previous effort,
Gasoline,
Theory of a Deadman turned to producer
Howard Benson on
Scars and Souvenirs, which could explain why the album sticks to the same sounds and formulas instead of branching out in a new direction. It makes
Scars and Souvenirs less then essential, given that nothing has changed. [The album was released again in 2009 with eight bonus tracks, including acoustic version of songs from the album, new songs, and a handful of covers. It also came with a bonus DVD of videos. In addition, the CD/DVD edition was released in a clean version with explicit content removed.]
–
Katherine Fulton, Rovi