Instruct: Classify a review into positive or negative sentiment.
Query: Exercise in Mediocrity

I don't know what these other reviewers are listening to. This is AWFUL. It sounds like some mediocre bar band trying to imitate a 1980s big-hair-rock-ballad-band type of sound but fails miserably because of a lack of hooks or catchiness. The drumming is stiff and wooden, the bass playing is totally unimaginative, the weak vocals blend in so that the lyrics are unintelligible, and the poor production compresses all the instruments into a lifeless midrange muddle. (Rumour has it that some groups who are mediocre musicians actually do this deliberately to hide their mistakes). To top the mess off there is a total lack of energy, intensity, and vitality in the playing. Imagine Huey Lewis and the News on downers crossed with Pendragon with weak vocals, mediocre musicianship, and bad production, and this approximates the sound of this woeful disc.