David Cook (2008)

Image credit: Ron Cadiz

Impressive Idol: American Idol winner David Cook

If you're expecting Daughtry 2: Post-Grunge Boogaloo, well...you're about right. Cook is clearly built in the guy-linered mold of that earlier Idol alum, though his debut owes just as much to the expert hands that craft it, including producers Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance) and Brian Howes (Hinder, Chris Cornell). They give David Cook's clutch of bombastic verse-chorus- verse rockers an impressive melodic sheen, one well suited to Cook's husky, expressive vocals. If anything, the series of booming midtempo anthems (most notable among them "Bar-ba-sol" and "Mr. Sensitive") could use a little sandpapering around the edges. B

Download This: Listen to songs from the new album on the artist’s MySpace

David Cook talks about American Idol