likely cringed to remember that before his all-too-precious reinvention of himself he was trying to rock out in a / vein. That's not because the results were bad, though -- if derivative, is still a mighty fine debut album, though arguably more credit goes to the band's true creative touchstone, fellow singer/guitarist . Openly gay but not making it his creative raison d'etre like, say, , and company tear things up with full-on energy, while the co-production on the part of the band and Portland legend is crisp and focused. There's a perhaps inevitable casting of over everything given its 1993 genesis, but instead of sprawl the emphasis is on tautness, vocals rough but not whined, more and , say, than or . 's knack for anthemic, empowering choruses infused with open emotional passion makes the comparison in particular appropriate, almost as if on his own he's fused in one body. At one point, on the wonderful he even sounds like an aggro . The songs don't waste time -- 14 in 37 minutes -- and steer away from easy singalong approaches in favor of slightly more complex headbanging with a brain and heart. re-recorded from an earlier single, sounds fantastic, just brawling with both fierce energy and close-to-the heart empathy, not to mention a great chorus. is a definite winner, with some great call-and-response vocal work and a steadily building verse-into-chorus structure that's fierce without falling prey to incipient cliches. Every so often there's some great flash on the guitars -- check out the solo on -- while the rhythm section does well enough (drummer in particular). ~ Ned Raggett