Hailing from Los Gatos, California, Trapt is a self-made band that recorded their own CDs, struggled to gain popularity through the internet and played many, many live shows before getting a record deal with Warner Bros. Records. Chris Brown (vocals, guitar) and Peter Charell (bass), and Simon Ormandy (guitar) released their self-titled debut, produced by Garth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine), in 2002. Their first two singles, "Headstrong" and "Still Frame" have been in heavy rotation on modern rock radio stations.

A disc jockey on Boston's 104.1 fm once described Trapt as "baby's first heavy band." The description's pretty accurate, and not nearly as insulting as it sounds. On their eponymous new album, the band neatly bridges the gap between melodic, emo groups like Jimmy Eat Worlds and modern rock's heavier denizens, such as Godsmack. Singer Chris Brown knows how to alternate between smooth vocals on tracks like the single "Still Frame" with rants and howls on "Hollow Man" and "Headstrong."

The rest of the band follows Brown's example, most obviously on "Echo," which transitions remarkably well from a gentle plucking guitar-and-bass intro to drum-heavy crescendos and comes back down just as admirably. Although the band definitely has garage-cred, the whole album sounds remarkably well-produced.

But Trapt seems doomed to get lost in the alt-rock shuffle, which goes through flavors-of-the-month at least as quickly as hip-hop and Top 40 pop. Unfortunately, they let their power chords and percussion carry them, providing catchy instrumental hooks for singles, but not much more. Only a few bands can rearrange the same elements every other rock group plays into something lasting and remarkable, and Trapt isn't oneof them.

The factor that can make a middling alt rock act into a good one is lyrical content, and Trapt doesn't offer anything particularly great in that area, either. Singing "The pressure is building I want to break away / Motivation is lacking the point starts to fade / I look to the bottom still empty still the same / I'm waiting for something to show me the way," as Brown does on "New Beginning" is all fun and angsty, but we've heard it before - in fact, we hear it on the radio every day coming from dozens of faceless bands. The Average Rock Song will put you on the Top 10 for a week, but a band needs more to have legs.

As far as mainstream debuts go, a band could do a lot worse than releasing an album such as Trapt. It's an easy, dumb Pop Tart reminecent of something you'd hear from Alien Ant Farm. If Trapt plays their cards right, maybe they can work some more meaningful lyrics into their catchy melodies and release something worth more than short-term popularity next time around.