Farewell 2 Fear are a hard-rock quintet based partly in NOLA and partly in Florida, one who claim to worship musical gods from the twin heydays of classic rock and grunge. You wouldn’t know it from New Blood, however; turns out they share management and production with less-legendary bands like Creed and Sevendust—corporate arena rock, in other words, and their uplifting message also can’t cover up the faint but distinct Aqua Net aroma of mid-’80s hair metal. These guys first got noticed with a cover of Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” which sounds inconsistent with their pedigree, but it works wonderfully, not least because that song sports a better hook than the originals.

Their debut certainly sounds like the work of true professionals—it’s big and fat and aggressive and polished enough to make you forget you’re listening to an anachronism. But even when F2F unleash something crunchy and direct, like the single “Finding My Way,” they immediately follow it with a ballad like “Gone,” which comes off like an unholy alliance between Taylor Swift and White Lion. Like a lot of their Clear Channel brethren, Farewell 2 Fear are really a potentially crafty pop band trafficking in fake angst, which is why, when they finally drop the pose near the end on “Unopened Door,” everything finally clicks—and they have the good sense to immediately jump into “Diamonds” to close out. Anger tends to dissolve as your fan base hits middle age, guys, but craftsmanship is timeless. Just a heads up.