Bland is the new (and old) bad

We all know there’s a lot of bad music out there, but the worst culprits might be artists who release music that’s just bland. There’s nothing good about it, nothing bad about, it just is.

Amber Pacific is one of those bands, and despite line-up changes — its former lead singer left to be a principal! — the band’s third album “Virtues” is full of the same three-minute pop-punk cuts it has produced for years.

Again, there is nothing awful about a catchy song that leads to a little foot-tapping, and those come in droves here, most notably in the opener “An Anthem For the Young at Heart” and first single “Three Words.” But one look at those titles makes it obvious what the band is about and without any other noteworthy ingredients, cliched love stories don’t help Amber Pacific’s case.

New vocalist Jesse Cottam’s delivery is far from original and seems puny and overwhelmed by the music playing over it.

Now Amber Pacific literally has nothing distinctive to offer. The music is bland, the lyrics are bland and the vocals are more than bland. You might enjoy this for a moment, but there’s so much more virtuous music out there.