The Soundtrack of our Lives were responsible for my favorite album of 2003. With Behind The Music, TSOOL introduced themselves to the Boneman in a big way and I still pop it in from time to time and always enjoy. When I first saw the title of their newest release I figured that it was a greatest hits compilation of some kind, but as I listened to it I realized that this was all new material - unfortunately it's not nearly as compelling as Behind the Music.

One of the biggest chinks in the armor of this Scandanavian sextet is the fact that English is at least a second language for them. On Behind The Music I wasn't bothered by their occasional clumsy wordplay, because the music was so strong, but on Origin Vol. 1 the songwriting isn't nearly as interesting and as a result their lyrical limitations became all the more noticeable.

Behind The Music was a good bit more diverse in it's musical styles and arrangements, whereas this new one pretty much sticks to the familiar Who-meets-Kinks-meets-ELO up-tempo toe tappers. With a great deal more same-ishness from song to song and it's lack of surprises and stand-out tracks, Origin becomes a bit dull and predictable.

The opener "Believe I've Found" gets things off to a more than promising start, but the tracks that follow fail to match it's catchy riffs and fresh ideas and it's not until track six "Midnight Children," that you're shaken out of your stuporous lack of interest. Track nine "Wheels of Boredom," is aptly titled and quite succinctly sums things up until your blood starts pumping again during the two bonus tracks "To Somewhere Else," and "World Bank."

Overall, Origin Vol. 1 is not a terrible disappointment, but it certainly doesn't do much to further the excitement created by the Grammy winning Behind The Music.