Nex's self titled debut album from 2006 surely shows a lot of talent and potential, all the musicians are high-skilled and they have a good sense of writing metal with punk and hardcore influences. My main problem with Nex is their singer, his voice reminds me a bit of Dexter Holland (The Offspring), I'm not really fond of this vocal style and the fact that the singer is out of tune every now and then doesn't really help, however when he turns hardcore on us his screams actually works very well, but I can't help noticing his false notes when he sings more calmly.

The songs all have catchy choruses and plenty of good riffs with a guitar solo every now and then. Some of the tracks have a happy vibe to them (Uncle S.A.M. and Tick) which work really well.

Lyrically we deal with political themes, but also themes with loads of weltschmertz, last mentioned I have a hard time handling:

“It's a shit machine, live the dream
In this place no one can hear you scream
It's your guiding light, a parasite
Love you then it's
Fuck you and goodnight” (Schadenfreude). 

Of course it's a matter of taste, but I think it's a shame they use such immature phrases when they show as much musical intelligence as they do. They really know how to make good tempo changes without seeming out of place, so it's a shame that the lyrics don't fit the music.

All in all this is a pretty enjoyable debut, but the band seems to be struggling finding a true identity, at one moment I listen to happy punk rock, the next I listen to hardcore metal and sometimes I even listen to Nu-metal with emo tendencies, to me it gets a bit confusing. I hope they will find their own path, because music wise they show a lot of potential and I think they can pull it off if they get on the right track, but not this time.