Somewhere there’s a music executive at Sony maniacally stamping out tepid rap-rock with a giant steel cookie cutter fitted with the requisite backwards white baseball cap, lame Chinese symbol tattoos, prefaded jeans and surly middle-class attitude. That man desperately needs to be stopped.

Zebrahead’s latest, “MFZB,” is just another in a long line of thoroughly mediocre, unimpressive drivel churned out by greedy record executives far too lazy to seek out new and viable musical talent. Sure, on the surface Zebrahead has all the prerequisites of stardom- good job mastering drop-D tuning, a couple basic pentatonic scales and whiteboy angst Zebrahead – but “MFZB” only drops into pitfalls of trite lyrics, uninspired hooks and a little too much fratboy bravado.

Rocking numbers like “Into You,” “Falling Apart” and “Type A” are all formed around catchy guitar lines, but any musical proficiency is ultimately obfuscated by lame retreads from every SoCal punk band or D.C. emo outfit. Even soften numbers that show a little promise, like “Blur” and “Dear You (Far Away),” still sound like Incubus B-sides.

Derivative isn’t a bad term, but when nothing about a band distinguishes it from contemporaries or even influences, a clear problem arises. Lead singer Ali Tabatabaee sounds like a mix of Brandon Boyd and almost every pseudo-punk this side of Pennywise and Bad Religion. Again, not that it’s the worst thing in the world, but Zebrahead holds few distinguishing characteristics.

“MFZB” rises above its own self-imposed mediocrity on melody laced tracks like the harmony heavy “Hello Today” and the head-bobbing “Over the Edge,” but this does little to save a thoroughly bland album. Nothing on “MFZB” sets Zebrahead apart from the endless slew of hybrid bands being signed to labels every month hoping to make a quick buck on being no better than thoroughly mediocre and utterly unimpressive.

And it’s not as though Zebrahead isn’t trying its damnedest. Rating this band is a lot like scolding a puppy who accidentally peed on a prized rug; it’s not as if he meant to make a bothersome mess, he just didn’t know any better. Zebrahead shows a morsel of promise, but it’s ultimately obscured by badly placed cliches.