Accomplished radio-friendly rockers Third Eye Blind are back after a six year hiatus with ‘Dopamine’, which does pretty much what you might expect from a band with over 12 million records sold; positively spun pop-rock arrangements sure to get your foot a-tappin’. It’s not exactly alternative and barely qualifies as rock, but it’s all very, er, nice.

It plays like a history of pop, there’s the Billy Joel-ish ‘Everything is Easy’ that’s sure to have fans flocking to the stadiums, the One Republic-esque ‘Shipboard Cook’ and ‘All These Things’, and just a hint of Elvis Costello on ‘Get Me Out of Here’. In fact it all sounds frighteningly familiar, with loads of acoustic pop and piano-driven easy listening; ‘Something in You’ being a prime example until it suddenly rocks into life and almost reaches Coldplay levels of intensity.

We do get one smoking solo on ‘Blade’ and ‘Say It’ has a big rock climax, but the rest is all very safe, bland and easy on the ears. They are certainly talented and know how to compose a hit, but this is probably a great example of why people listen to alternative rock.

2/5

’Dopamine‘ by Third Eye Blind is out now on Megaforce Records.

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Words by Edward Layland (@EdwardLayland)