Holding Mercury's slick, safe 'Empire' strikes out

Holding Mercury, "Downfall of an Empire" (Bad Nero)

With the intent of merging '80s pop with contemporary rock, local rockers Holding Mercury came up with something somewhere in the middle. Fronted by onetime St. Charles resident and "Rock Star: Supernova" contestant Matt Hoffer, the quartet's slickly self-produced debut full-length album mostly sounds like a product of the post-grunge '90s. Even when glossed with a new-wave bounce or hard-rock strut, the bland bluster of Live or Dishwalla ultimately poke through.

With titles like "Stuck in a Box," "Unrequited Love" and "Glad You're Gone," as well as the cartoon girl crying on the cover, Holding Mercury seem to cultivate a nervous, brooding image. Yet, this is essentially guitar pop with occasional flashes of a darker nature, as if Placebo had mugged Vertical Horizon on the way to a gig and tried to pass themselves off in their stead. A prime example is "I'm Not Well," where Hoffer puts a little grit into his smooth pipes for the chorus ("I'm not well/I've got issues/I've got skeletons and scars/I'm afraid of the dark"), but the music retains the commercial levity of any given Cars hit.

"Hit" is the key word, as Holding Mercury certainly have the hooks to spawn a few. Aforementioned opener "Box" has an easygoing melodic drive that would slide comfortably into most rock radio formats, and the lightly metallic rocker "No One Around (Modern Shakespearean Tragedy)" offers enough dramatic vocal and rhythm twists to make it stand out there. But overall, although the album might satisfy adherents of overearnest middle-ground pop, there's not enough danger in the details to give it an edge for the adventurous.

• Holding Mercury performs a CD release show with The Melismatics, The Glide and The Moves at 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at Reggie's Rock Club, 2109 N. State St., Chicago. $6 advance, $8 day of show. (312) 949-0121.