History is littered with examples of film stars who also decided to have a bash at being a rock star. Whether it be Kiefer Sutherland playing his own brand of Americana-country rock (he has another album of it out today, as it happens), or Jared Leto fronting the really quite successful 30 Seconds To Mars, it all lends weight to the theory that inside every actor lies a frustrated musician. 

Dogstar are, of course, best known for their bass player, one Keanu Reeves. Reeves famously put his film career on hold in the 1990s in order to tour with the band, and they were relatively successful – supporting David Bowie and Bon Jovi amongst others, as well as playing Glastonbury in 1999. But when the band broke up in 2002, it’s fair to say nobody was expecting a reunion 20 years later.

All In Now, the band’s fourth album, follows their comeback record Somewhere Between The Power Lines And Palm Trees two and a half years ago, and it’s pretty much business as usual for Dogstar. In keeping with Reeves’ modest public image, this isn’t a celebrity vanity project – as bassist, he’s very much in the shadows, leaving the spotlight to vocalist Bret Domrose.

Putting aside the celebrity backstory though, are Dogstar actually any good? The rather unsatisfactory answer is that they’re… fine. The trio make a perfectly pleasant brand of grungy alt-rock which is competently played, sung and produced but is, overall, a bit too polite to make any lasting impression.

Math kicks off proceedings with Reeves’ slinky bassline to the fore, and Domrose peeling off a number of guitar licks. It’s a heady, atmospheric start, one which highlights the influence of new producer Nick Launay. Best known for his work with IDLES and Nick Cave, Launay has stripped away the band’s early sheen, and injected a fuzzy swagger to many of these songs.

At its best, that swagger sounds almost menacing. The title track has a restless energy about it, one that feels like it’s taken Queens Of The Stone Age‘s sludgy desert rock and enhanced it. Again, it’s clear that Reeves is a very accomplished musician, with his bass playing really underpinning many of these tracks.

Punch The Sky is another highlight – a stadium-sized alt-rock anthem with a huge wall of guitars, and one of Domrose’s most impressive vocal performances. What Is fizzes with punky energy with drummer Robert Mailhouse on top form, while Shards Of Rain shows off another, more brooding side to the band, an atmospheric mid-paced rock ballad.

The only problem is that none of it is particularly memorable, and at its worst, sounds pretty dated. While a grunge revival may sound fine in theory, the reality is that most bands of that era never came close to the exhilarating thrill of Nirvana or the classic songwriting chops of Pearl Jam. Unfortunately, tracks like this album’s Exalted, This Sphere or Siren are too flat and anonymous to make much of an impression.

Ultimately, this is a record by a competent, tight power trio who unfortunately lack the songs to make this break out beyond the bubble of veteran Dogstar fans and Keanu obsessives. Without a real songwriting hook to hang its hat on, it remains just another alternative rock album – with no real spark to light a fire under, they may well be destined to always just be Keanu Reeves’ side-project.