Horse of the Dog

All the same, there's much to recommend here: frontman Guy McKnight's sinister preacher-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown vocals; crude guitar roar that sounds like a chainsaw snagging on jagged bone; and a purple-velvet swing that belies the band's terrifying volume. Thematically, the songs encompass oppressive sexual relationships, unnatural family ties, a contempt for arrogant rock star attitude, and a peculiar fascination with--or is it revulsion of?--raw meat. But when the tunes come--and they do, on the sordid "Celebrate Your Mother" and the snake-hipped "Morning Has Broken"--everything falls nastily into place. --Louis Pattison