pointandclick "Invitation to the Dance" had hints of Smashing Pumpkins-esque melodicism and balladry in songs like "Power Tool", "Jonesin" and "Falling Down", although for the most part the album mainly consisted of aggressive "jumpdafuckup" type songs. Here things are reversed, most of the songs are ballad-like in nature and there are only 2 or 3 songs which are 100% aggro nu metal. A few find a balance between the two directions, notably the wonderfully titled "Taxi Cab Confession". Overall, this album is really a product of its time. In 2003, nearly every major or semi major label nu metal band was being pressured by their record labels to make generic radio rock after the success of Incubus's "Make Yourself", Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory" and Staind's "Break the Cycle", multi-platinum selling albums which all fused nu metal instrumentation and vocals with pop/post-grunge type song structures. Some examples of this phenomenon include Slaves on Dope ("Metafour"), Nothingface ("Skeletons"), Nonpoint ("Development"), Mudvayne ("The End of All Things to Come"), Korn ("Untouchables") and Limp Bizkit ("Results May Vary"). The only nu metal band that really bucked this trend were Deftones, who came out with a very heavy album in 2003 before going all artsy/hipster in the mid-2000s.

Originally written for www.rateyourmusic.com