At one point, The Gaslight Anthem had a propensity for writing heart-wrenching songs that went straight for the jugular. They were a New Jersey rock band with a tasteful Bruce Springsteen inflection, yielding heartbreak anthems with punk’s velocity. This was encapsulated best mid-career, with SideOneDummy breakout, The ’59 Sound, and on the E-Street-straying follow-up, American Slang. The records were instantly familiar and so overtly emotional that shouting along with them made one feel you were actually coping.

But fast forward to the present day. In frontman Brian Fallon’s words, Get Hurt (Island Records), the band’s latest, was intended to be “completely different than anything (The Gaslight Anthem) had ever done before.” As he further explained to Rolling Stone, he chugged a lot of Bob Dylan and did some research on “any band that had changed” (like The Beatles and Pink Floyd, among others), immediately equating The Gaslight Anthem to artists of deep, historical importance. All of Fallon’s preliminary work, however, ultimately led to a project that fed off all of the wrong influences. Get Hurt is recommended listening only as background noise, a fitting soundtrack to a sitcom with a saloon backdrop.

Though Fallon and Springsteen were once inextricable at the mention of the former, the Boss’ influence is rarely heard on Get Hurt. Album opener “Stay Vicious” is a sludgy piece, evocative of Black Sabbath at best. “1,000 Years” shifts a couple decades—and a couple phases of rock later—into a cock-rock anthem. The hard rock of the ’80s seems to be the band’s new muse, as revealed in would-be Bon Jovi gem “Helter Skeleton” and further on “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” and “Red Violins.” But when glam metal takes an aside, Get Hurt is left without any nuance. “Mama’s Boy” tries too hard to be a Dylan ringer, acoustic/harmonica dichotomy and all. Referring to Get Hurt as peripheral music seems apt with “Dark Places,” a song that might very well appear at the conclusion of your favorite medical drama.

Fallon says he “wanted to figure out how far you can go without pissing people off,” but this record isn’t going to be burned in masses; it is merely a disappointment. While The Gaslight Anthem used to be an authentic, no-nonsense band, their conviction wavers with Get Hurt, and by going to for something different, they’ve made a haphazard mess instead.