Much more coherent than the CD I heard a couple of years ago. That doesn't mean that Bully Pulpit has restrained its repertoire or scope of intensity. Not at all. It's just these songs are much more integrated units than most of the previous CD.

And "Dope Take" particularly shows this trend. It's merely a gorgeous pop song, with all the little extras that Bully Pulpit fans expect. A really nice bit.

The flip, "Gain Buy-In", is somewhat more experimental, but not overly so. Yeah, so real song construction, but it all makes sense in the end.

This single bodes well for upcoming projects. I can't wait to hear.

For some reason, I always get the new Cemetary at the same time as the new Edge of Sanity. And while Cemetary is one of my favorite bands and an acknowledged purveyor of fine European metal, Edge of Sanity is one of the all-time greats. Almost anyone suffers in comparison.

Which is too bad, because Cemetary has crafted its finest work yet. Yeah, this is light years away from its death metal roots. Indeed, Cemetary has taken on more than a few Americanisms (nods to both grunge and industrial metal) and wound them into that addictive heavy Eurometal doom sound Hypocrisy and Sentenced have been moving toward of late.

A simply gorgeous-sounding album. And I'm afraid my reproduction of the album cover cannot do that piece of work justice, either. No, this isn't quite as good as the Edge of Sanity, but it's damned fine. Cemetary has never disappointed, and this album moves the band even further along the legends trail.

Brett Gurewitz has finally gotten tired of just running the most successful punk label in the universe. So he put together this band, made up of a few survivors from the L.A. scene.

Perfectly catchy pop stuff (with oddly mean lyrics). Gurewitz's voice sounds odd on top of two songs that are unmistakably his. This does sound like Bad Religion with a new lead singer. And his voice is fairly weak, which doesn't really help move the songs along.

Gurewitz still hasn't rediscovered the fire (the lack of which plagued his--and Greg Graffin's--later songwriting with Bad Religion). This is fine for someone who hasn't written such punk classics as "You" and "Walk Away". But Mr. Brett has a past to live up to, and this doesn't quite cover. But it's also only two songs. Let's see what the forthcoming album (due in the fall) has to say.

Forty minutes. One song. Dan Swano and company are setting themselves up for a big fall...

And this didn't need to be one song. There are numerous spots where song-length interludes break up the general musical theme. This could have easily been banded.

But that's a minor bitch. I mean, when a band pulls such influences as Iron Maiden, Sisters of Mercy, Napalm Death, Judas Priest, Tiamat and, well, all the other stuff Edge of Sanity has ever put out (a nicely diverse lot), then there's no reason to whine. Is it a death metal opera? Well, as close as I've heard. And, of course, Edge of Sanity has sampled opera before...

Not quite a masterwork, but damned close. There are a few seams that folks like me can hear, and those detract just the slightest bit. Much like the last Pan-Thy-Monium (which included EOS members Benny and Dan), you simply don't notice the length. This is a great album, and conversely, a great song.

I'm not sure I'd ever advise such a career move, but Edge of Sanity pulls off the single-song concept album as well as anyone I've every heard. Astonishing work.

For a band that sticks so closely to the "classic" death metal formula, Fleshcrawl has the knack of finding little bits of nuance and innovation and creating stunning albums.

The best way to describe the sound is some sort of atmospheric grind, the sorta thing Napalm Death has been trying to achieve for years. Yeah, the production is a little disappointing. The levels seem to have been misset at times, leaving some really shrill moments. But I don't let that bother me. There are only a couple of bands that can consistently write great songs in this style, with Gorefest being the other.

And give Fleshcrawl a moment to impress. It takes that get used to the unbending dedication to the ideal the band has. But once you're clued in and have the proper mindset, nothing else will do. Fleshcrawl has always left me stumbling in a ditch. The power of the music is something that must be experienced. And once you have, there is no choice but to submit fully.

Another great album from one of the best, period.

I haven't read my review of his last album, but I remember thinking it was alright. Not great, not terrible. If that recollection is wrong, well, it won't be the first time. This once has a lot more potential.

Roots-rock, if you want a style. Kinda anthemic at times, and Holden's voice is not best suited to those moments. He's got a kinda whine going on, and that works very well when he goes to the blues'n'boogie shuffles or other uptempo styles. Which happens often enough to keep me pleased.

Holden writes nicely affecting songs. His voice doesn't always carry those off, but you can hear the craft in the writing. And the production is very nice, lending each of the songs a slightly different feel. For a singer/songwriter who likes to mix things up, that's just about perfect.

I wasn't expecting to like this album quite this much. Holden has markedly improved his writing, and he seems to have learned (better, anyway) how to showcase his more average singing and playing skills. Very satisfying.

Hubler and Schwab composed and conducted these scores, which pretty much follow that basic 60's pseudo-psychedelic party groove that permeated a lot of that decades farces. If you remember (or, more likely, have seen) such Peter Sellers movies as The Party and I Love You Alice B. Toklas, then you've heard this stuff. Or, as the press notes, if you've ever watched an episode of the "Batman" TV series.

Fun stuff, I guess. I grooved along just fine. I would play this at a party, though you wouldn't see me Frugging (not that I know how). Oh, and for you gratuitous nudity freaks, there's plenty of that in the liners.

I suppose these movies are getting a video release, which might explain this package (I didn't read the press THAT closely). Anyway, this stuff is pretty damned silly, but if you have a thing for this kinda music (and I do, I suppose), then these soundtracks are a nice spot of fun. The amusement factor runs high.

The press compares them to stuff like the MC5, mostly 'cause that's cool, I guess. And, yeah, Mensclub has that monstrously overfuzzed bass and guitar sound that the punk acid rockers dug. Of course, you might as well compare this to early Urge Overkill. Same thing. And not an insult, either.

A cool riff though the whole "lead guitar as a weapon" concept. Mensclub has really covered this groove nicely. Now, we're not talking anything original, but the turn up the volume and take the top down and you've got a great afternoon drive.

I can only go so far praising retro stuff, and so must say I wish Mensclub tried in some way to update this idea. Didn't happen. Plenty of fun, plenty to dig, but nothing new. And while that's my only serious complaint, it's a big one. If Mensclub would just try and mutate this sound into something seriously great, well, that would be something.

Necrophobic has always walked the line between black metal and death metal. The lyrics have always been on the black side, but the albums have been well-produced and the music isn't completely one-dimensional. Reasons to like the stuff, indeed.

One new song here, the title track. And then covers of "Die By the Sword" (Slayer), "Nightmare" (Venom) and "Enter the Eternal Fire" (Bathory). All well done, but not really all that necessary.

This reeks of "let's get the band back in the public's eyes" things, as Necrophobic's last album The Nocturnal Silence came out three years ago. Oh well, with an album due this fall, I guess there's no need to bitch. Necrophobic sounds like it is in fine form, and the album should be worth the wait.

Whether going by the name Palace Brothers, Palace Music or just Palace, you know who this band is.

And still the same maddening country-ish ramblings that meander in all over the place. Over hill and dale, through the mulberry patch and down in the dell. And then someone gets shot.

The lyrics are alternately strangely poetic and jarring. This is not comfy sit-by-the-fire music. I'm not sure how anyone could relax with Palace Music on the stereo. But the music and lyrics are so cryptic at times, you can't help but think.

And it's that combination of unique lyrics and unique music that really makes Palace Music work. If one or the other even thought of trending toward the mainstream (or even coherence, really), then it would all fall apart. But Palace Music casts a spell, and it has worked throughout the recorded history of this band (no matter the name above the title).

You can't "get" it. But the journey is fraught with personal growth.

Somewhere in the pop universe. Lotuspool is a label out of Lawrence, Kansas (if you don't know), the place where such current experimental pop hipsters as Vitreous Humor reside. Panel Donor and the previously reviewed Bully Pulpit are the main troopers on the label, and that's a lineup that makes me drool.

The last Panel Donor album I heard was a little more grungy. This is still plenty loud and chaotic, but more in the current "emo-core" (as the Crank!sters call it) mode. I like this better. The guitars kinda plow all over the place, not worrying about conservation tillage or any real farming method. And Panel Donor reaps what it sows: a few somewhat together songs, and some really wild things as well. Good ditchweed, I suppose. If the band is really crafting this stuff, I'd be shocked, but what comes out is quite good.

Still, it takes folks with high tolerance for noise and new musical ideas to really groove on this. So, obviously, I'm ecstatic. Yeah, I think a little more time could have been spent editing some of the excesses down and punching the production up jut a bit. That would really have made this album great. But these results are nothing to scoff at at all.

Ripping into that whole punk-pop thing, Sinkhole keeps the speed up and the melodies nicely twisted. For me, little could be more glorious.

Oh, man, this just totally gets me off. You know how sometimes a band just seems to click into your head? I'd keep getting this thought, "It would be so cool if the next song would sound like this..." and then it did. Yow! Call the psychic hotline!

A little too loose to make the Five A rating, Sinkhole nonetheless has cranked out one of the fine albums of the year. The disc rolls on, the great songs keep arriving, and the attitude and tuneage just gets better. Thirteen songs, almost 28 minutes. True punk glory in a fuzzy pop setting.

Not much more to say. Sinkhole simply knocks me out. There's no reason this band can't be fucking huge. Completely over-the-top fucking huge.

"Your New Friend" is from a Peel session, and the other three tracks are equally sparse thoughts from Bill Callahan, who is generally Smog.

Much like the Palace stuff, Callahan doesn't think much of musical niceties. His melodies are a little more accessible and plain, but the stark sound of his voice and (just a little) acoustic guitar (and the odd tambourine shake) is quite startling. Callahan thinks nothing of baring his deepest thoughts. You simply must be willing to meet them. Good luck.

Not fun, not nice, but riveting nonetheless. Sometimes galling in its imperfection, Callahan's playing and singing are the only show in town here. Albini produced the three non-Peel tracks with very nice results.

Smog may breed nightmares, but I think that's the point.

Boy when this is good, it's pretty damned good. Sure, a total Ministry clone, but 20 Dead Flower Children has a good idea how to make this stuff work.

And it does, at times. See, the reason the new Ministry sucked so much is that it never got out of first gear. Yeah, the occasional dirge is fine and all. But 10 straight full songs, with a dreadful Dylan cover thrown in? Come on.

Enough about Ministry. 20 Dead Flower Children are also highly enamored of the dirge, enough to cause me some distress. When the tempo picks up and the riffs get above Pantera rip-off territory (which only happens some of the time), this is pretty cool.

Oddly, the promo people also realized this, and tagged a faster song as the lead track. This should be a hint to the band. There's some obvious talent riding around here, but the guys need to find their own sound, and part of that includes writing their own riffs and speeding the whole process up. Sludge is not only a silly musical concept (except in the hands of masters, which isn't the case here), it doesn't sell either. And I have the feeling these folks want to sell.

Work for a year and call me then. We'll see.

Eleven tracks from Ringing Ear singles (I think). The production varies widely, but you get two tracks from the awesome Sinkhole (neither of which is on the album), two also from Doc Hopper, New Sweet Breath, Bender and the A.G.'s, and one from Huffy (which is a pretty great tune).

All this for $3 postpaid in the U.S. I don't usually mention the price, but this collection is as good a label sampler as I've heard in some time. If you even think you like that whole punk-pop thing (a la Edsel, Jawbox, etc.), then I can't imagine how you could pass this up. Ringing Ear has a cool selection of singles, and this gives you ample reasons to check them out (not to mention the amazing Sinkhole album).