The Donnas: Gold Medal (2-1/2 stars)

By Collin Quick

Coming off the success of their 2002 hit album “Spend the Night” and their brief cameo in the 1999 film “Jawbreaker,” The Donnas return with “Gold Medal.”

It’s an 11-track album that glistens with guitar riffs and lyrics about – what else – boys.

Backed by Torry Castellano’s kick drum and cymbals and Maya Ford’s rumbling bass lines, the quartet keeps each song short and to the point.

Allison Robertson’s guitar riffs would make any AC/DC fan proud, while Brett Anderson’s vocals hinder on the verge of screams on certain tracks and resonate starry-eyed confessions on others.

One major flaw is the repetitiveness of the album, track after track. All songs tend to follow the same structure; after a while, one guitar solo begins to sound like the next. The redundancy of the hand-clapping in the background leads to wonder why the girls even need a drummer to begin with.

The saving grace of the album is the title track – an acoustic-based, up-tempo song with a short piano interlude.

The Donnas try for a gold medal, but will they accept the silver instead?