Their New Rage 7" of a month ago was but the tip of the iceberg here. Thunderous punk that smashes you in the face and then picks you up for more. And the thick production leaves a great fog through which the songs present themselves.

This is the type of release that makes a band legendary. Five songs, all great. Intensity overload. You simply submit when you're listening. If this isn't about the best thing I've heard all year (and I've only said that one other time in 1993), I can't think of it. The Fear Factory remixes are incredible, but they are remixes, so they don't quite count.

If anyone you know is questioning what rock and roll is all about, just slide them this disc. Tell them to turn it to eleven.

Don't forget to scrape that bloody slime off the wall when they're finished. If you let it set, you'll never get it out.

In the course of four albums Anacrusis have gone from mediocre midwestern thrash band to real decent post-thrash band, period (.)

When I first heard them, I was real dubious of anything from St. Louis. And at the time I had good reason. There was potential, but not much execution. Manic Impressions was a huge step forward, and Screams and Whispers keeps moving in the awesome direction.

While the sound is more honed, the aggression is still there. There is no mistaking this with latter-day Queensryche. Anacrusis are still an unapologetic metal band. And a damned fine one at that.

It's been a long time since I've heard classic metal this good.

Another slab of glory from this St. Louis group of plain-old wackos. Not in an evil, but fun, way.

Their loopy rockabilly always seems to put me in a great mood. Why nobody has put the cash moves on these boys is a complete mystery.

As usual, two completely deranged love songs, although they have moved past the food metaphor. I just can't imagine these folk staying unknown much longer. They're far too good.

This could be called Chuck Mosley's new project. You know, original lead singer with Faith No More and then a short stint with Bad Brains. The other guys sorta fell together, but what comes out is a real band sound.

Rock was once rock AND roll. This album has a lot of roll to it. It simply flows. The vocals are mixed way down, giving a real emphasis to the music.

And good music, too. Somewhere between the funkier side of FNM and the aggression of BB. And a lot of other stuff, too.

And when they sound funky, the sparse and slightly fuzzy production makes it sound authentic. None of that shiny RHCP stuff that leaves a taste of plastic in your mouth. Just a nice flow.

That's what it is about Cement. This stuff is catchy, but it also has the ring of truth. There is no calculation, just devotion. A real find.

A collection of singles from 1986-1991. It rather sounds like that, but when you consider the period historically, this does seem to be a spot ahead of its time.

I've never been a real fan, and this doesn't help a whole lot. But since most of their albums are very difficult to find, this serves as a good introduction to perhaps the first band to merge goth and industrial sounds, even if they don't do it well some of the time.

Then you get to the other side, a decidedly Cure-like sound that really annoys me. But you have to remember - they are trying to make a living.

For starters, I always thought tracks like "Martyr" would make good club tunes to begin with. But when I heard about this project, I was excited and yet a little worried. All prevous attempts to do this sort of thing (Prong et. al.) ended up sounding really boring. All the guitars turned down, and the vocals mostly lost as well.

Well, I knew with the FLA boys at the helm there would be no fear of volume. And my God, this thing cooks.

Nothing is lost in the techno translation, and a lot is added. Not just those slightly annoying beats, but even more volume to the guitars. And the vocals also seem stronger. A real fusion of dance and death. Techno metal. This is what Godflesh will never be able to accomplish, because they don't have the guts.

To call this brilliant or a must play is just far beneath the reality of this disc. I could really go for this sort of thing on a regular basis. Brutality or death!

Everything about this is ugly. The cover, the layout of the back side, the spelling... and of course, the music.

And what music. A real relief from some of the almost sparse sounding stuff I've been hearing lately. The production here, much like the Incantation album last year, makes sure every pore of your skin is inundated (especially at the volume I had this on) with heavy death metal. And heavy is the proper term.

This reminds me of Morgoth (who have a new once soon - finally) in the way they crank out riffs and then switch to doom licks now and again.

Ugly. And damned proud of it.

Their debut on Epic sounded rather stiff, almost forced. Like they were sqeezed into something they didn't want to do. Like they were just another metal band on a major label.

The addition of Jason Everman on guitar has added a hint of that Seattle sound. Hell, they actually slow things up at times.

And it just sounds a whole lot better. I still think that they compromise quality for volume at times, but as sins go, that's a quick penance.

The more I listen, the more this sounds like the album Soundgarden should have recorded last time out. It's more interesting and not quite so dumb conceptually. And with songs like "Zootiehead", I begin to get the idea Mindfunk don't take themselves too seriously. A very good sign.

When I called for a full-time techno band in the Fear Factory review, little did I know I would find one that is damn close just a few discs down the line.

Floor-ready death, with the proper amounts of distortion and aggression. This still lies more on the techno side of things, as it is completely created on a computer, but the occasional sampled guitars sound good, and to be honest with all the noise, you hardly miss real instruments.

This could bring slam dancing back to clubs, where it should never have left. Somewhere between the last FLA album and their FF remix, Numb still manage to assault the eardrums with a barrage worthy of airplay.

Affecting crunchy pop. This could be derivative college alternative if not for the rather high energy level present. Not remarkable, but certainly good.

The two songs are well-written, and the production is rough and appropriate for the band's sound. While there is nothing distinctive here yet, I see potential. Give 'em a year.

The band perhaps best-known for discussing Buzzcocks lyrics on the Larry King radio show is back. Just in case you missed their excellent Urges and Angers last year (highly recommended by this very rag), here is another chance to bask in their brilliance.

The sound is tighter, not quite the all-over-the-place effect of previous efforts. But everything is still very strange. The lyrics are rather obtuse at moments, and the music can go from 60 to zero and back in a matter of seconds. Not to mention wide variances in dynamics (sound level for the non-band geetks out there). I would consider all this very good.

Porn Orchard is a rather acquired taste. But once you get it, a lot of other bands seem pretty ordinary next to them. Bang your head to this!

The festering dark overtones of Controlled Bleeding have released their second Skin Chamber album, this one as harsh as the first.

There is no continuity, nothing to make a real good dance track here. And it sure isn't easy to keep in the discer. True evil distilled into one piece of plastic and silicon.

For the uninitiated, Skin Chamber present their view of the world, which is completely unfettered by idealism and hope. One of my uncles, in a vain attempt to pull me from the "morass of my music" (I kinda like that), said that heavy metal (oh, how the terminology has changed) focuses on the negative too much. And he was talking about Bon Jovi. I think this album would probably drive him to suicide.

But for those of us equipped to handle such visions, we simply plod along and say, "Life's a bowl of shit, and we have to slurp it down." So perhaps we aren't Bill Clinton's happy campers. We know no one will butter our toast but us, and we call those black chunks "sprinkles".

I've heard it all before: the fuzzy guitars, vocals tweaked with a spot of echo, harmonies on the chorus and that almost grating kinda syncopated drum beat. Not to mention the minimalist lead guitar work.

Yes, so every band who wants to make it in the "college rock" world employs this stuff, but few can make it work. The Godfathers and some of that Manchester crap (you can tell how much I usually dislike this stuff). But the difference here is solid songwriting. Sure, they're not doing anything original, but it sure sounds great.

Four songs, and not a clunker in the bunch. This will probably end up in the regular rotation, but give it a listen. Awful fine.

You folks have been reporting these guys for quite some time, and this is my first chance to hear them.

I really liked "Mind Bomb", which I believe was from their last album. I hate to say it, but the rest is just about completely forgettable.

They get some credit for trying to sound different than all the other commercial metal bands wandering around. Too bad they just aren't much better, at least here.

Another member of the highly courted Lawrence (Kansas) music scene. But Zoom distinguish themselves by not trying real hard to sound just like Soundgarden (like, say, Paw and Stick). And what is it with these one-syllable names? But on the meat.

This is more of a heavy pop sound (real heavy, actually). And the songwriting does have a bit of Seattle flavor to it, but only in the bass. The songs simply move too fast to be stuck in that scene.

They thank the Poster Children in the liners, and I think it is that brand of grunge that Zoom belong to. And I like that side a lot better than the MTV one. Why write an anthem when you can actually say something?

I understand these folk have already signed somewhere else, though I can't remember where. It wasn't a major, and I don't think I even recognized the name. Oh well. I wouldn't worry. You'll be hearing plenty about Zoom in the not-so-distant future.