It really is fruitless to try and review Danzig from a musical standpoint. After all, since the beginning all the band has done is rehash Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and other seventies axe-heavy outfits while Glenn spewed his malevolent silliness.

The more important question is can we still believe this persona? Glenn Danzig as the embodiment of evil, or at least an icon of the same? Does it wash?

He has the posturing; that's for sure. And the music is entertaining, if nothing spectacular. After all, this is an entertainment industry. And if things get a little silly, well, try and remember that a band called Soul Asylum used to be known as a hard rock band.

I digress. Glenn Danzig was once a hardcore horror hero. Now he's a metal pinup. The music (including lyrics) may be some of the silliest recorded, but the kids like it. If you fall for the romantic fantasy, dig in. If not, then chill out and listen to something else. Why harp?

The trio is a duo, and the only instruments around are a guitar, brushed snare, bass drum, bongos and the occasional cymbal. Dull? Not if it's going to be on Skin Graft.

This is the second Skin Graft jazz soundtrack to an indie movie shot in Chicago in a couple months. The Denison is Duane Denison of Jesus Lizard. Kimball would be Jim Kimball, who was with Laughing Hyenas before he parted ways with Mule. And the Lizard's David Yow has a part in the movie. Sounds damned incestual to me.

I'd say keep it in the family if it sounds like this. Denison has plenty of great things to say with his guitar, and Kimball keeps the mood moving behind the traps. Like most soundtracks, the music doesn't vary much from the main theme, but Denison and Kimball seem to manage to squeeze one more inventive variation out of the mix.

Simply cool. What else to say?

Heavy stuff that meanders through grunge and hardcore territory at times. The production left everything pretty muffled. I thought at first it might have been intentional, but on reflection I don't think so.

The songs are pretty solid and must sound better live. I wish I could slice through the fog, because I really like what these guys are doing.

Oh well, the base is there for something interesting. Quite a fine effort.

More of the current metalcore trend. The lyrics mean well, but are fairly generic as well. Performance and production are above average. Those folks have the chops. At the moment, however, it seems they do not have the inspiration.

There is too much decent playing here to preclude any growth. If the band finds its muse, well...

Yes, there's more than Fugazi and Jawbox wearing a sash declaring themselves cool D.C. post-punk survivors. And in my book, G vs B is putting the better goods on the table these days.

Still a lot of distortion and madness swirling around in the vortex, but a tight rhythm section keeps things mostly in line. Where the last album had quite a few moments of mellow indecision, the intensity is kept cranked here. Just when you think things have built as high as possible-boom!

As before, melody is not only ignored but absolutely scorned. The emphasis here is on strident guitar licks and exacting rhythms. And yes, I do truly dig it.

A step ahead of Venus Luxure, the new G vs B has a simply wonderful racket.

In a world that is increasingly random and chaotic (or one that seems that way), I guess we need bands like Mama Tick.

Every song threatens to relapse into some heavy metal hell, but the boys fight the good fight and keep things on a wackily noisy line. Just when things start to get accessible and easy, the band cranks out another vicious swipe at humanity. Civilization has been reduced to ruins once more.

The interesting part is that while to all outward appearances there are few musical skills at work here, I can hear some sort of inner peace, something that says these guys want to sound like this; in fact, this seeming chaos is a highly crafted art form.

Like Buzzov*en? Um, a little. Like the Jesus Lizard school? Well, they are from Chicago, so there is a little resemblance. But Mama Tick has found its own personal way of expressing horror at everyday life. Frightening, yet wonderful.

It sure is a joy to hear something done this well. Planet Hate takes the basic rhythms of mid-to-late eighties hard rock (Metallica, Anthrax, Soundgarden, etc.), fuzzes up the guitar sound and tosses in a few quirks of its own.

One of those, "I know I've heard this before, but I can't place it" sorta deals. One that is very palatable to average listeners and real aficionados alike. The songs are tightly written and even have something to say (without being overly pretentious).

Albums like this get filed under "simple pleasures". There isn't anything complicated or extraneous going on, but Planet Hate still more than satisfies. Just sit back and be warmed by the sonic rays.

I got their first disc, Problem Factory, last year and figured these guys were heading for a big label soon. The disc was a nice chunk of pop-rock, with a few grunge and punk idea flitting around. And the guys seemed made-for-MTV (um, well, literally).

But that didn't happen. This second disc is a little more accessible, but it also tries more. There are a couple of cheesy seventies mellow-type songs ("Slide On" most particularly) that make you wince, but then there are cool rave-ups like "100 times" that make you forget the bad stuff.

The guys still haven't found a coherent musical voice, but they sure wander around in a pleasant way. Andre Comeau has the kind of voice that works best when he belts, so the half-whispered falsetto moments come off sounding really forced. But most of the time he is tearing up the mike, and the band has all the necessary chops to really kick out a song.

I still think these boys are best suited to a big label with lots of lights and cameras, but as long as they are in my neighborhood, they can stay as long as they like.

Infusing a basic hardcore mentality and sound with splotches of cheez and grind here and there, Six Feet Deep have crafted a cool and accessible hard rock sound.

Sure, there are similarities to Biohazard and that ilk, but those are mostly superficial. Six Feet Deep is a lot heavier and more metallic than most of the New York-style new hardcore wave.

There is little straying from the path, which is the only real drawback. I suppose that's a plus as far as programming goes, but I would like to hear these guys let up for a moment and try something different. Oh well. Sometimes you have to settle for merely liking an album for being quite good. Ain't that a shame?

Everything about this band is highly entertaining. Start with the music. A heady mix of horns, over-amped electric instruments, drum machine and wild sampling, you simply cannot comprehend what is going on immediately. You must listen over and over to get the subtle nuances, just like your favorite movies. Only after completely immersing yourself can you even begin to understand.

Then there is the plain wackiness of the band. If you can get a press kit, read it! any interviews are worth their weight in laughs. Space Streakings just might be the height of inspired lunacy in industrial music. Strike that. They are at the peak.

So at times you think you're listening to a Nintendo or Sega set suffering terminal breakdown. And at times it sounds like the Duke Ellington Orchestra on PCP. And sometimes the music is just merely loud and fast. Are you gonna complain?

I didn't think so.

Grunge riffs, some hard rock conventions and a touch of the Chicago industrial hardcore thing. Excellent guitar sound and production overall. This is alright.

But the songwriting isn't there to take things past "alright". The spark of genius hasn't been passed on yet. Perhaps with a little more work.