by James Hamel

Created on: October 18, 2009

With his first self titled album Daughtry, American Idol non-winner Chris Daughtry had the last laugh by creating an endlessly listenable record that wound up selling millions of copies. Take that Taylor Hicks (he won Chris' year on Idol) you pasty faced and talentless yokel.

So what happened this time Chris? Why does your usual vocal vibrato seem to be accentuated by some serious nasal clogging? Did your prescription for your allergy medicine expire and you were too busy to see the doctor? Why do you sound like you are singing through a stuffy nose? What happened?

Perhaps some answers can be found in Chris Daughtry's recent acoustic cover of Lady GaGa's Poker Face. While this track, unfortunately, cannot be found on the track list for Daughtry's new album Leave This Town, it has become quite the internet sensation on YouTube. Does Mr. Daughtry know what this Lady GaGa song is about? Or does he, too, understand the iniquity of suffering through a certain intimate experience with his partner where unmentionable body parts continually slap against his poker face? I kind of doubt it. But it is funny to think about.

As for Daughtry's new record it is much more a hit and miss affair than his first effort. On some tracks he tries his very best to imitate his heavy metal heroes while other songs are seeming rip-offs of his own earlier hits. While experimentation is all well and good, Daughtry the band is at its cohesive best when it uses a mid-tempo beat from the rhythm section to accentuate whatever painful feeling Mr. Sensitive (also known as Chris Daughtry) is trying to convey. Regretfully for buyers of Leave This Town, a lot of the sentiments just don't seem to ring very true. I mean, how many times can some girl break Chris Daughtry's heart? He's hot.

Leave This Town opens with a song called You Don't Belong that boasts guitar riffs and drum beats seemingly stolen from the latest Disturbed album. This kind of musical accompaniment to Chris Daughtry's voice just doesn't belong. It is possibly the weakest song on the entire album and shouldn't be the lead in track.

The rest of the album covers the usual gamut of Daughtry topicsmuch like in country music the lyrics usually refer to a woman who has done him wrong or refers to a world that is breaking him down. His usual angst levels are conveyed in songs like Ghost of Me, With your imagination and emotions running wild/ fueling my frustrations like a fire burning, the clock keeps turning/I know it's getting

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