When Garbage debuted in the mid-’90s, their electro-rock fusion separated them from the mundane sound flooding the airwaves at the time, and earned them some well-deserved attention in the music world. But with the release of their fourth album, Bleed Like Me, they’ve become victims of their own originality: Because times and music have changed, they just don’t sound special anymore. Or maybe they used up all their good material on that first record.

Bleed Like Me isn’t bad. It’s just a plain and generic album—something I expect to hear playing over The Gap’s sound system in the mall. Plain and palatable—perhaps enjoyable if you don’t think too hard about it, or if you have a few drinks.

On the positive side, Shirley Manson has grown her hair out, thankfully, and is looking a little less “fashion slave” than she was a few years back. Sometimes there is nothing worse than cool musicians doing the fashion-mag rounds and appearing on the cover of everything (i.e., Courtney Love, Gwen Stefani). Ew.