First things first.

Otep’s House of Secrets kicks complete and total ass.

Dealing with both internal and external issues this time around, Otep has delivered yet another explosive album. Otep’s website is filled with their views on the upcoming election and links to upcoming Rock the Vote performances, so it should come as no surprise that Otep is “less than pleased” with the current state of the union. Otep manages to turn their anger into delicious aggression on House of Secrets, the sophomore follow-up to the band’s debut album, Sevas Tra.

“Warhead” (VIDEO) kicks off the band’s war on the war on terrorism. “The King of Lies is alive/Look around, look inside”. But just because Otep is a chick doesn’t mean this is going to be a peaceful protest. “Warhead” sets the heavy pace for the entire album (heavy in the Headbanger’s Ball sense of the word). Joey Jordison (Slipknot) provides drums on this track as well as five others, and fits perfectly with this style of music.

Gone is most of the rapping that the band seemed to be dabbling in. The majority of the tracks on House of Secrets are straight forward metal. None of these songs would seem out of place on a Slipknot or Chimaira album. There are a few “poetry readings” over music that eventually develop into songs. It’s all part of the band’s performance, and it works here. On “Nein”, for example, the band switches between spoken poetry and musical performance. It’s art mixed with metal, but it’s not over the top. It works.

Tracks like “Sepsis”, “Hooks and Splinters”, “Warhead” and the title track should be enough to sell a few fans tickets to Ozzfest this year. Otep’s House of Secrets was a pleasant surprise — it’s heavy when it wants to be and gives listeners enough breaks in between the blasts to stop and smell the anger.

01. Requiem
02. Warhead
03. Buried Alive
04. Sepsis
05. House of Secrets
06. Hooks and Splinters
07. Gutter
08. Autopsy Song
09. Suicide Trees
10. Nein
11. Self-made
12. Shattered Pieces

Everything we’ve seen so far has just been pebbles, faint rumblings, mere hints of the marketing landslide that’s about to bury us. A few Osbourne Family posters here and a couple of T-shirts there capitalizing on the surprise success of MTV’s latest reality show are nothing compared to the onslaught of action figures, clothes, lunch boxes, yo-yo’s, CDs, DVDs, and everything else America’s “first family of evil” has planned for us.

The first item being offered up to tide us over until season two starts is the official soundtrack for the television show, titled The Osbourne Family Album. The album contains several of the family’s favorite songs, as well as some Ozzy Osbourne classics. The songs are linked together by sound samples taken directly from the television show.

The disc opens with Pat Boone’s rendition of “Crazy Train,” which originally appeared on his CD of heavy metal cover tunes and is also the theme for the television show. Other tracks on the album include The

Kinks’ “You really Got Me”, System of a Down’s “Snowblind”, John Lennon’s “Imagine”, The Cars’ “Drive”, Starsailor’s “Good Souls”, Dillusion’s “Mirror Image”, Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”, and Chevelle’s “Family System”. The promo material touts “unreleased material from Starsailor and Dillusion”, but to tell you the truth I wouldn’t know the difference between released and unreleased material from those two bands.

Included are some short explanations as to why the songs were picked, for those who are curious. Nothing too in-depth is given; John Lennon’s “Imagine” says “Ozzy and Sharon fell in love to this song while they were dating.” Nothing Earth shattering to be found here. The Cars’ “Drive” was “a personal favorite of Aimee Osbourne when she was younger”, and Dillision’s “Mirror Image” is “an act that Jack [Osbourne] is currently working to develop.” Sounds a bit self-serving to me, but hey. Not my soundtrack.

The other musical tracks on the disc come from the Osbournes themselves. Ozzy tracks include “Dreamer”, “Mama I’m Coming Home”, “Paranoid”, and “Crazy Train”. The final Osbourne track is daughter Kelly’s rendition of Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” with Incubus backing the pink-haired one. The vocals don’t sound as bad or as distorted as they do on the radio bootleg of the song that made the internet rounds last month — either that was a slightly different mix, or somewhere during the “CD to radio to mp3 to Internet to My Computer” process, something got lost.

Between each track lies a short sample from the television show. The samples include Ozzy’s discussion about Pat Boone, Ozzy’s lectures to his kids, Kelly’s speech about the valet guy farting in her car, Ozzy throwing the piece of wood through the neighbor’s window, Ozzy ranting about the dogs pissing on his carpet, Ozzy’s rant about “bubbles” and being the “Prince of fuckin’ Darkness”, and the Osbournes’ conversation about Ozzy’s viagra experiments, among others. Two versions of the album are being sold, one for all ages and one for adults; the all ages version has the samples bleeped just like the television show. The adult version does not.

The Prince of fuckin’ Darkness (along with the Princess of fuckin’ Marketing) have put together a cute little package that tries to capture the excitement and surprise of the hit television show. The problem is, there’s nothing new here. Even casual fans of the show have heard most of the sound clips included within. I would guess that most people who enjoy The Kinks, System of a Down, John Lennon or Ozzy Osbourne already own these songs on CD. I guess if you’re dying to have Kelly Osbourne’s version of “Papa Don’t Preach” or some bands that Jack Osbourne is developing on CD, this album is for you.

My guess is that with the huge Osbourne marketing landslide we’re about to experience combined with the relatively few number of Kelly Osbourne fans in the world, this CD should be readily available in either a bargin bin or used CD store near you within three months. If you must own this album, I’d wait 90 days.

01. Crazy Train – (Pat Boone/Theme from TV Show)
02. Dreamer – Ozzy Osbourne
03. Papa Don’t Preach – Kelly Osbourne
04. Paranoid – Black Sabbath
05. You Really Got Me – The Kinks
06. Snowblind – System Of A Down
07. Imagine – John Lennon
08. Drive – The Cars
09. Good Souls (Remix) – Starsailor
10. Mirror Image – Dillusion
11. Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton
12. Mama I’m Coming Home – Ozzy Osbourne
13. Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
14. Family System – Chevelle (Bonus Track)

Punk Statik Paranoia is Orgy’s third album and the first in four years. Orgy’s last major plink on the global soundscape was “Blue Monday”, a cover of New Order’s classic song from the 80’s. Candyass came and went, as did 2000’s Vapor Transmission.

Overall, I like Punk Statik Paranoia. Orgy has done a good job of maintaining their overall style and personality while presenting new music. The electronic influence is still prevalent with lots of ambient noise filling the tracks, but they never forget the fact that guitar is the focus. Many of the songs kick off with synthesized intros, but when the six-strings kick in you are reminded that this is rock music featuring keyboards, not the other way around. I absolutely love Orgy’s guitar sound. It’s heavy, low, bassy, and processed. The drums are also excellently mixed, adding to the rock ambience.

Punk Statik Paranoia is a bit slower and mellower in places than Orgy’s previous releases, but I’m okay with it. They’ve got a great sound, interesting song arrangements, and I can understand what they’re saying. That’s more than I can say for half the albums I hear these days. It’s a bit more mature than their previous releases, and the band has learned you don’t have to go full speed all the time — of course, when they do (like on “Beautiful Disgrace” and “Ashamed”) it just makes the album that much tastier.

“Welcome to the mind of the Ultra Violent – A deranged and sick individual with no regard for the helpless victims he encounters. He stalks his prey with deadly precision, creeping through the shadows unseen and silent, waiting sometimes for several days to attack. And then, with sudden fury and deadly quickness, he descends upon his victims, cutting and slicing with the skill of a highly qualified surgeon. In a despicable act of carnage he would harvest the organs and sell them on the Internet. ‘Cuz to him, you’re nothing but an ORGAN DONOR.”

And thus begins Organ Donor’s debut album, The Ultra Violent. Organ Donor is a California based band who has put together a loose concept album which revolves around the before mentioned serial killer. Three of the band members, (Falcon, Hipp, and Juice), laid down some killer tracks in their California-based studio. Once the music was completed they hooked up with Jim Gillette (former lead singer of Nitro) to lay down the vocals. Now, you younger readers are probably wondering, “who the Hell was Nitro?” and you old schoolers who remember Nitro are probably thinking, “Oh NO …” Nitro, for the record, was one of the cheesiest hair metal bands of the 1980’s. While basically every part of their gig was over the top, the band become known for two things — one was Michael Angelo’s outrageous guitar playing, much of which was done on his four-necked custom X shaped guitar, and the other was Jim Gillette’s seven octave voice, which was infamous for blowing speakers and shattering glass during their live shows. Unfortunately for them, Nitro wasn’t known for being that good, and the band soon disappeared from the face of the Earth. If you only know three things about Jim Gillette, know the following: 1, he was the former lead singer of Nitro, 2, he is the current lead singer of Organ Donor, 3, he has been married to Lita Ford for the past seven years. Go Jim!

So anyway, enough of Nitro and back to Organ Donor. The Ultra Violent rocks! Now remember, the Flack man still very much enjoys 80’s and 90’s metal, and this sounds a lot like that, so my definition of rocking might be a little different than yours. I sent a few tracks to Sick Royale to listen to. I mentioned comparisons to Nuclear Assault and MOD, and he mentioned Overkill, so think in that realm. It’s good straight forward metal, nothing more and nothing less.

Hipp’s guitar sounds are thick with lots of palm muting and chunka-chunka’s. Falcon’s bass has a GREAT sound, one of the better overall bass sounds I’ve heard recently in fact. Finally, someone turned the “tone” knob back up a bit so the bass isn’t completely lost within the low end guitars. Juice’s drums are strong and provide a solid backbone to build the songs on. A few guests appear on the album as well, including Lita Ford, Michael Angelo, and T.R. Austin providing guitar solos, and David Ezrin (Lita Ford) standing in on keyboards. For the most part these work, (Ford’s solo is soulfull and effective), but Michael Angelo’s 100 mph fretwork comes off as graffiti on top of an already finished piece of art. The biggest question on everyone’s mind is, however, how are Gillette’s vocals?

Surprisingly, quite good! Many of Gillette’s vocals from Nitro would make listeners wonder if they were listing to a metal band, an opera, or a chipmunk writhing in pain. Every Nitro song was like, “I swear to GOD I can sing higher than you, don’t you believe me? HERE, I’ll do it AGAIN!” Gillette seems to have outgrown the need to prove to listeners that he has more available octaves than Mariah Carey, and it has improved his delivery 1000%. You can still tell that Gillette has a lot of talent and control over his voice, but this lower range is much more fitting to this style of music. There are still heavily layered choruses and plenty of vocal effects here and there, but the difference this time around is that his voice adds to the songs instead of detracting from them a’la Nitro.

The Ultra Violent reminds me a lot of Alice Cooper’s Raise Your Fist and Yell album — it’s a light hearted album about murder and death. None of the album’s ten tracks stray too far from the radio-friendly four minute mark, and even considering the album’s subject material I doubt there’s anything here that couldn’t get radio play. “Organ Donor”, one of the better songs on the album, is written from the killer’s perspective and really shows off Gillette’s vocals without him showing off. “The Ultra Violent” is another strong track, (until the end, when Angelo throws up his solo all over the place, continuing for 30 seconds after the song’s over). “Bone Saw” slows down to a grindy pace, and “Six Feet Deep” picks it back up with a galluping double bass riff. “Breathless” shines due to Lita Ford’s solos and chunky style, but the end of the song, (a minute of people shouting “Breathless” over and over), drags a bit. “Hypnotized” is another catchy crunchy riff with some electronica mixed in (nothing too drastic) that rocks. “Guilty” was probably my least favorite track on the disc, due to its thin mix and Gillette’s excessive layering. It sounds almost like a pitch shifter. “Bed of Nails” picks the pace back up with some stop and start chunkiness and heavy riffage, and then it’s off to “Last Rites,” another up tempo rocker. The disc closes with “My Fist”, a strange combination of guitars, harmonies, keyboards, almost tribal like drums, and a closing speech that I’ll let you hear for yourself.

If you’re waiting to hear Organ Donor on your local radio station or searching MTV for them, you might as well give up now. They don’t have a DJ and they’re not 15 years old so any chance for financial success is pretty well shot. However, If you’re into straight forward heavy metal, definitely spend the $10 on the band’s website and become an Organ Donor. I’m glad to be a member of the club.

Tracks:
01. Organ Donor
02. The Ultra Violent
03. Bone Saw
04. Six Feet Deep
05. Breathless
06. Hypnotized
07. Guilty
08. Bed of Nails
09. Last Rites
10. My Fist

By the way, the band’s website is designed and run by Hipp (guitarist), and the band is both very fan and Internet friendly, so be sure to drop by and tell them that Flack from Review-O-Matic sent you. There are lots of pictures, background, and audio samples to be found online there.

I can’t imagine Opiate for the Masses not being everywhere in the near future. The band’s latest EP, Goodbye, contains a perfect mixture of brooding lyrics, loud guitars and industrial flavor.

“The Carried”, the first track on Goodbye, reminded me of Linkin Park — more in presentation and design than sound. It’s a pop song dressed up like a rock song, the first of many on the disc. As the disc moves on, the songs begin to take on a heavier, industrial sound, without ever losing their pop flare. Of the five tracks on the EP, I can easily see at least three of them (“Running From Yourself”, “Heaven”, and the title track) becoming hit singles.

Goodbye contains huge mass market appeal. After further listening, I’d have to group Opiate for the Masses with bands like Filter and Stabbing Westward, with maybe a little Orgy thrown in for good measure. Several of the songs contain programming and keyboards, but they never dominate the otherwise rock-oriented songs.

What sets Opiate for the Masses apart from other bands of this genre is Ron Underwood’s vocals. Whether singing or screaming, Underwood’s performance remains tight and controlled. And like Underwood’s performance, the band rocks withouth ever getting too out of control. Even at its heaviest, I found myself tapping my foot and singing along to lyrics like, “I can’t get to Heaven, cuz’ Heaven’s a place that don’t want me/I can’t get to Heaven, cuz’ Heaven’s a place that I don’t wanna be.”

Opiate for the Masses is currently recording a full-length album, and if it sounds anything like Goodbye, they had better be prepared for the ride.

I don’t know why this didn’t click until after watching One Fierce Beer Run, but The Bloodhound Gang band is in essence the musical equivalent of Jackass (in turns out, in fact, that members of both camps are friends — no surprise there). Spanky G, an underage minor with heart problems and a growth defect that stunted his growth (he looks to be about twelve years old) serves as both the band’s drummer and whipping boy. You probably know a kid just like him; a scrawny, mouthy little guy who tries to run with the big dogs. But you probably never had your friends hold him down while you stuck your finger up his butthole, continually put your dick on his face, or handcuffed him, tied a pillowcase over his head, and deserted in a hotel hallway. Well, the Bloodhound Gang does all this and more, and now thanks to the wonder of digital video discs these acts and more will be preserved in all their glory for all eternity. Whee.

Fans of the band looking for live concert footage or video of the band simply enjoying the fruits of their multi-million dollar record deal will certainly walk away disappointed. Instead, the painfully-long 90 minute video largely consists of handheld footage shot on a dark tour bus. More often than not the video and audio quality is so poor that it is difficult to recognize faces or make out what is being said. This monotony is broken up with lots of shots of male genitals. I don’t understand why the self-acclaimed homophobes (the band relentlessly torments a crew member who admits to once having a homosexual experience) enjoy rubbing their dicks all over each other. Then again, one could most likely compile a long list of things I don’t understand about the band at this point. In addition to all the shitty bus footage, the disc also contains three or four videos, and quite possibly the most uninformative commentary track of all time from band member Evil Jared.

After sitting through One Fierce Beer Run, I’m not even sure what the point of this entire video was. I can’t imagine it winning them any new fans, and to be honest, it may have made this semi-fan a non-fan. I’m sure if I had the opportunity to meet the band in real life at this point I would pass (I’m not so much into other dudes’ balls, thanks). Throughout the video it’s obvious the band doesn’t even like themselves very much. They’ve had an unusually high turnover rate of members and after viewing this home video, it’s easy to see why.

This DVD should have been titled, “We’re Going To Be Assholes to Everybody We Meet During Our 15 Minutes of Fame” instead.

Nuclear Assault’s “Critical Mass” was one of those videos that just wouldn’t go away. For over a year, I saw that video weekly on Headbanger’s Ball back in the late 80’s. If you ever saw it, you’ld remember it. Along with the extremely catchy chorus, the video contained images of the band playing in the desert, Jessica Hahn sunbathing, and a one-eyed happy-face ball which bounced along with the scrolling lyrics at the bottom of the screen. Headbanger’s Ball is responsible for introducing thousands of kids to Nuclear Assault, me being one of them.

Unfortunately, the big time avoided Nuclear Assault, and in 1992 when Dan Lilker (Anthrax/S.O.D.) left to form Brutal Truth, the band quickly dissipated.

Ten years later, the boys decided to reform and play a few summer festivals. Alive Again is one of those shows, recorded live during a concert in Massachusetts. Response has been so great, that the band is planning on recording a new studio album next year, the first in over a decade.

Alive Again spans the band’s entire ten year career by including cuts from all six of the band’s studio albums. From the opening riffs of “Rise From the Ashes” to the end of “Hang the Pope,” it’s made clear to listeners that Nucelar Assault still has it.

Those who missed Nuclear Assault the first time around will be sonically transported back to the hay day of thrash music, the late 80’s. Tracks like “Trail of Tears” and the aforementioned “Critical Mass” show why Nuclear Assault became as popular as they were, and probably would have gained even more popularity had grunge not taken over the music world and kicked metal in the crotch.

Alive Again also includes a three minute interview and a three minute live video clip on the CD that you can watch on your computer. Both clips are interesting, but don’t offer enough to bring even fans back more than once or twice.

What will bring fans back, however, is Nuclear Assault. The band sounds as tight and quick as they did ten years ago. In a music scene filled with tons of genres and even more subcategories, it’s nice to hear some straight up thrash for a change. Recommended for everyone who was there at the time, and everyone else who wishes they were.

I tried. I really did. I’ve had this album sitting around for two months now, and I’ve tried like Hell to come up with an interesting, new spin that I could put on this review. But I can’t. There’s nothing. There’s nothing new about Nonpoint. And the worst part is, if you have a new band that isn’t groundbreaking, don’t tempt reviewers by naming your band something really close to “no point.” I was tempted to ask readers if maybe I missed what the “Statement” was. All a bunch of cliche’s, floating in nu-metal soup.

And that doesn’t mean I didn’t like the album – I do. It’s just not great. I liked it, I just didn’t love it. There’s nothing on the CD that makes me want to listen to it over and over. Or even a second time, at the moment.

Nonpoint borrows a little from all the big nu-metal bands out right now, and a lot from Downset and Deftones. When asked how they plan on separating themselves from all the other nu-metal bands currently out there, Nonpoint responded that they are introducing “the singing quality of music and melody back into this rock genre.” In other words, along with rapping and yelling, there’s also SINGING (like Sevendust). Revolutionary.

The majority of the album isn’t bad. There’s an awful lot of angry songs about relationships. In fact, the singer dedicates the album to “all my lost loves… thanks for the lyrics you fucking sluts, when will I learn?” Grrrr, I’m an angry singer. I won’t even type in one of the other dedications, where a band member goes off and talks about how he wishes his dad would kill himself, to spare him the trouble of doing it. Grrrr, I’m angry.

If you like Staind and Static-X and the Deftones and Sevendust and Downset and wouldn’t mind hearing another band that sounds just like these (aha, but with SINGING, I forgot!) then by all means, pick this up. It sounds like I’m being ultra-hard on Nonpoint, and I’m not trying to be. Let’s just say I doubt seriously if we’ll see a lot of kids running around with Nonpoint tattoo’s anytime soon.

The Statement this album makes is, “we can run with the rest of the nu-metal dogs.” Now let’s see if they can break free from the pack.

01. Mindtrip
02. Victim
03. Endure
04. Back Up
05. What A Day
06. Misled
07. Double Stakked
08. Orgullo
09. Years
10. Hive
11. Levels
12. Tribute

Andy called me yesterday to tell me that he had an extra (and more importantly free) ticket to see Nine Inch Nails last night at the Oklahoma City Ford Center. So after work, the two of us hooked up and headed downtown.

Andys girlfriend Lea (who does part time radio work and is friends with several people who work at the KATT) told Andy that the KATT would be broadcasting before the concert from the Courtyard Marriott across the street from the Ford Center, so after parking underground we headed over to the Courtyard to hang out for a bit before the show. Andy introduced me to a couple of the KATT DJs and we spent about half an hour hanging around and talking to Paisley and Tony Z. Paisley even had someone take a picture of all four of us together for the KATTs website. After that, Tony Z asked Andy and I if we wanted to cut some promos for the KATTs Dirty Thirty birthday party, so we both recorded little sound bites with our names and where we were from, wishing the KATT a happy dirty 30th birthday. So now we are all BEST FRIENDS FOREVER K WRITE BACK HOLLA PLAYA? Just kidding. But it was pretty fun.

Apparently we spent too much time hanging out in the Marriott because by the time we went outside the line to get into the Ford Center wrapped around a couple of times and took up most of the city block. When the doors finally opened the line moved slowly but steadily. Every person entering had to empty their pockets and be patted down from head to toe by security guards. Times have changed.

The Ford Center is notorious for having small seats (think airplane), so we were less than thrilled to see the enormous guy sitting in the seat next to mine. The guy filled his entire seat and half of mine, which was bad news for me since I fill every square inch of the seats there and Andys not exactly tiny himself. Things got better once the concert started and everyone stood up, but until then I was physically wedged up against two peoples shoulders.

The shows opener was Saul Williams. Apparently Saul Williams has two gigs; slam poetry readings, and live concerts in which he performs slam poetry readings over music. Most of Williams lyrics dealt with his urban struggles growing up black. Unfortunately, his audience was 15,000 white kids, all there to see Nine Inch Nails. As a performer, Williams stage show was largely unimpressive. Both Williams and his DJ were animated throughout the performance but there were no set pieces and no light show to speak of (other than blindingly bright strobe lights). Sauls vocal diatribes are probably very powerful in small venues, but lose something in a large arena setting.

After Williams left the stage, thick screens (I dubbed them mosquito nets) dropped down from the ceiling, blocking view of the stage. The cube was pumped full of smoke, the lights were dimmed, and Nine Inch Nails took the stage.

Despite being deeply rooted in electronic and industrial genres, there is no doubt that Nine Inch Nails puts on a hell of a rock and roll show. Trent Reznors touring band (which rotates members every tour) included bassist Jeordie White (A Perfect Circle/Marilyn Manson), drummer Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle/Devo/Studio musician) and guitarist Aaron North, who covered every inch of the stage throughout the show while throwing guitar stands, kicking over amplifiers, and even stage diving (with guitar in hand) during the middle of a song.

Of course, Nine Inch Nails IS Trent Reznor, and he did not disappoint fans. Whether standing in the middle of an intricate light show or standing onstage alone lit by a lone spotlight, Reznor both commanded the crowds attention and spent time hiding from them in the shadows as well.

The only downfall to the show was the mid-concert pacing. Halfway through the night, the mosquito-nets were once again lowered and turned into makeshift movie projection screens. Movie clips of monkeys fighting and George Bush ballroom dancing were projected onto the screens, all but completely blocking any view of the band. It was a neat effect for one song, but by the end of the third song the crowd began growing restless and I saw lots of people sitting down. The lull continued as Trent and company worked their way through some of the bands slower material. Its good to see some traditions never change the stadium was a sea of lit lighters.

Overall, the show was great (especially for the price!). Its been a long time since Ive been to an arena-type concert, so if nothing else it was nice to get in touch with how out of touch I am. ;)

Good music, good friends, good attitudes, and good work ethics can all help you in the music business, but there’s one other thing that can help just as much — good luck. So is the case with Florida’s Neurotica, who was discovered by AC/DC’s Brian Johnson purely by chance one night in a club. Johnson made some calls, got the band signed to an indie label, and produced the band’s first album, Seed. Unfortunately due to some label problems, their debut saw very little public light.

Not to be stopped, Neurotica has been working ever since then to earn what’s theirs. The band has been touring on Ozzfest this summer (making appearances on the main stage), has a single (“Ride Of Your Life”) on the WWF’s Forceable Entry album, and has just released their sophomore album. But, does the disc back up the hype?

The answer is yes. Neurotica play straight forward hard rock and roll. In a music wasteland jumbled with confusing labels, Neurotica takes equal parts of Motley Crue, Black Crowes, Guns and Roses, Buckcherry and Fuel, mixes them up in a blender, pours the whole mess in a glass and throws it in your face!

Neurotica opens up with “Ride Of Your Life”, the single which also appeared on the WWF’s latest album. It’s a good song and a good marketing idea. The pace doesn’t slow much before “All My Friends Crush You” kicks in on track four, which is the first single and video from the album (undoubtedly with the line “All my friends / they shit on you” censored in some fashion). The band pounds out eleven solid rockers, occasionally slowing down the tempo but never the momentum.

Neurotica is definitely a guitar based album. The drums and bass, while professional in every sense of the word, rarely poke their heads out from around the double axed lineup. Shaefer’s vocals swagger up front, scratchy enough to relate to the men but shallow enough to hit home with the boys.

Fans of good ol’ rock and roll should pick this disc up or try and catch the band live on Ozzfest this summer. Neurotica certainly have the chops to make it in a rock and roll world — whether or not they have the faces to make it in MTV land remains to be seen.

01. Ride Of Your Life
02. Down (I Feel)
03. Don’t Blow It Away
04. All My Friends Crush You
05. Stars In My Eyes
06. Living In Dog Years
07. Touch The Sound
08. Said She
09. Up In The Hay
10. A Lot Of The Same
11. I Like It (One Way)