Instinct [Bonus Tracks]

Somewhere between the realms of a very bad joke and a dismal display of innocent worship lives Hungary's , whose only distinction in life appears to be that they've somehow made it six albums into a career dedicated to aping someone else's sound. Check out those down-tuned riffs verging on the atonal, the dry snare-drum snap and those often tribal-sounding rhythms, and finally the ragged-throated, sociopolitical rants of frontman , and what do you have? That's right: , with perhaps a smidgeon of latter-day thrown in for the sake of living dangerously -- whoopee! Seriously though, ignore a few, non- -generated ingredients of -flavored melodicism in the title track, the rather ambitious or its instrumental extension and there's almost nothing on display here that the Brazilian legend's two main bands haven't already done before, and far better. In fact, it's nothing less than a miracle that the temperamental star and his conflict-loving manager haven't already sued out of existence, but then, you can't copyright an idea. So until they are touched by an original thought or stopped by a higher power, expect to keep mining -- probably long after the man himself hangs up his combat boots, if they are as clueless as they seem. If imitation is truly the greatest form of flattery, then this is a fascinating case in point. [ issued a 12-track edition in 2006.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia