At this point in their career, has all but eschewed their roots in a direction that is a lot closer to jamming with . No, that's not a joke. Even more surprising, pulls off the quite admirably. Much of the disc has a somewhat retro quality to it, paying homage to the '80s -- sounds like would have sounded had they been clad in black lipstick and leather when recording and could have been the B-side to ; however, it also has a space-age modern feel as well, further adding to the schizophrenic nature of . growls are completely missing, and frankly, not missed. Like did with the preceding year's , made a very credible album that is quite out of character, and they both succeed because of (not in spite of) that very reason. The kids will hate it (even the guitars seem to vanish two songs in), but sometimes the view from a dancefloor is a lot nicer than that from a mosh pit. ~ Brian O'Neill