An alternative, grunge rock band meets a blind, bluesy, soul street singer. The result? Detroit-based Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise. Together since 1992, “New Ground” is its third release.

It may prove hard to meld the sounds of a 30-something white rock quartet with a 50-something black singer, but evidently not being challenged enough, RBBS decided to throw electro-synthesis into the mix on “New Ground.” The result is hip-hop-like noises straining against flatline melodies and rock beats.

It sounds like a mediocre band playing with all the buttons in the engineering room of a recording studio. Better producing may have breathed some life into these efforts.

Singer and songwriter Bradley sings with a phenomenal, raw, raspy blues voice and occasionally is joined by boxed-sounding backup singers like on the tracks “Fast Lane” and “Feel the Fire.” Bradley’s overly-ponderous lyrics lie atop a band that seems to only know two styles: slow and quiet or really loud and pounding.

“Willie Lee” is a tale about a loser who messes up his life and ends up homeless and miserable. The lap steel guitar gives this sob story the country twang it deserves.

“Exist for Love,” which sounds like a cold and calculated ballad, makes the real drummer sound like a drum machine. In contrast, “Profile,” a song pondering what is going on in big cities, has more of a hard rock/pop feel.

“Lindy” is a groovy little number that tells the story of, you guessed it, Lindy. The sassy little piano licks on this track help to make it one of the only peaks in the flatline of this album.

RBBS ends the album with an ’80s, Springsteen-esque tune rolling over the golden fields of wheat, tribute in honor of the Sept. 11 attacks. “Born in America” feels good for about the first 30 seconds until you realize that the other five minutes are going to sound exactly the same.

So, what is Bradley’s blackwater surprise? The surprise is that no new ground is being discovered with “New Ground.”