No, it's not John Major's long-awaited break into the music industry - instead 14 Shades of Grey is the new album from Staind, the Massachusetts quartet whose angst-ridden take on heavy metal has made them one of the biggest bands in America. Unfortunately, frontman Aaron Lewis has been faced with the old problem - once you become rich and famous, there's just not that much pain left to write about. So while his band still rocks as hard as ever, his earnest songs about the importance of friendship and family life simply don't have the same impact as his old hits about suicide and emotional dysfunction. Lewis is clearly a sincere young man who takes himself very, very seriously. But his songwriting is frequently meandering and tortuous, while his lyrical insights rarely rise above the banal. Listening to this album is like sitting through a very long, rainy day - it just never seems to end.

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