Based on the liner notes that accompanied this disc, it sounds as if Karelia have been searching for a comfortable niche over their 8-year career. They started as power metal on Usual Tragedy, and then downshifted to a more mellow, poppy experience on Raise. And with Restless, it seems they’re trying on the eyeliner and fishnets of industrial/goth metal for size. But I don’t know if they really mean it.

They give it a good go at first. The title track starts as a moody mid-tempo simmer that cranks to a chorus of piercing synth strings and simple guitar riffs, with a strong power vocal carrying the melody. Aside from the clean vocals, it’s all very Rammstein, but with the edges burnished off.

The next track, “Trial,” is probably the one I’ll return to the most, despite the fact that it has all the makings of a cheesy disaster: a punchy, sneering vocal over pulsing Euro-dance beats, like Marilyn Manson playing a show on Ibiza. It’s a surprisingly enjoyable song (especially when it cranks into late-era Depeche Mode towards the end), and hell, I really like metal plus dance beats when done right (KMFDM being the best example), but I wish the rest of the album would have followed suit.

Instead, we get a lot of mid-tempo, unthreatening goth-metal with electronic flourishes. Admittedly, it’s got pleasantly poppy songwriting, some good hooks and solid production, but it never gets really exciting. The soaring vocals escalate into some appealing melodies on tracks like “Crash” and “Mirror Mirror,” but they’re not used often enough for my liking.

We get a lot of other vocal deliveries, though – to add to the already mentioned Manson sneer and Dave Gahan croon, there’s also a Layne Staley drone during the verses of “Trial,” a gothic-grandeur anthem on “Lift Me Up” which sounds like classic Sisters of Mercy (although it’s a Moby cover), and Jonathan Davis‘ whole bag of tricks scattered throughout tracks like “Please Come On In,” “Give It Away” and “Lovin’ Wife.” (Yes, there’s a track called “Lovin’ Wife.”) To put a capper on all of this shapeshifting, there’s even an up-tempo, industrial cover of REM‘s “Losing My Religion” at the end of the album.

That’s a lot of reference points to pack into one review, but Restless, true to its name, keeps grasping for an identity throughout its running time. Given the band’s history, it seems like Karelia‘s still not quite clear what they should do, so they’re doing a lot of everything. It’s a shame, because if they focused on a few elements – the clean, elevated choruses and faster dance beats would be my picks – I think they could put something compelling together, rather than just a mish-mash of heard-that-here and heard-that-there.

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