After the pathetic statement by Jersey boy Gabe Saporta on leaving "half a million" to stay with Decaydance (facetious or not), it left most of us scratching our heads, asking: Who the hell does this guy think he is? At that point, there was no doubt that the upcoming Cobra Starship album would be a self-indulgent waste of time. Alas, though it may not be the greatest thing ever released, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets does in fact have a few redeeming qualities.

After an atrocious acoustic introduction, Saporta throws "Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I'll See You in Hell (Hey Mister DJ)" at us, and while it's not exactly a curveball, to say that the track is not completely infectious would be a crime. It's here where it becomes apparent that taking the album too seriously would defeat the entire purpose of it: All Saporta wants is for us to be tapping our feet. The lyrics aren't much and some tracks are downright fruity ("The Kids Are All Fucked Up"), but Gabe's got his eye on the prize, and sometimes, it works.

The results are a success when he relies on a quick pace and a huge chorus to reel us in, while not straying too far from his dance-pop objective; some tracks seem straight from the Fall Out Boy playbook, which defeats the purpose of Cobra Starship. Still, "Keep It Simple" and "The Church of Hot Addiction" (with the great "HEY! HEY! HEY!") are too catchy to ignore, but the album ends with three consecutive stinkers, leaving the listener with only four or so tracks to hold on to.

So it's not awful, just unfocused. It's evident that Gabe Saporta can create an effective tune, but there's a lot of trash on here that distracts from the central theme of While the City Sleeps. There are flashes of something solid, but eventually, the album just runs out of steam.