Virgins of Menace

With , was one of the leaders of a pop group that could rock out under the right circumstances; in his side gig as frontman with , he turns this formula upside down, showing he's a great rock & roll shouter heading up a band that knows how to wield some poppy hooks to their guitar firepower. ' second album, , gives room to strut around like some punky glam rock hero, and it suits him just fine as he spits gleeful venom on "Fate's a Strong Bitch" (where he out-attitudes guest vocalist , no small accomplishment) and sounds lean and cocky on "The War's Not Over." Of course, it helps that has just the right band for this sort of act; guitarist makes these songs catchy and tuneful even when he's laying out the power chords (as on homage "Complicated Times" and the straightforward rocker "Some Kind of Sickness"), or easing up with some ringing acoustic-based leads (cue up "Kill the Killjoy" for details), and bassist and drummer are agile and muscular, keeping the beat lively and hitting gloriously hard. And the band has a clear talent for songwriting, with their pop inclinations never compromising their rock moves or their brief exploration of prog rock textures on "Everything Forever (Pig Wars)." Cruising through a dozen songs in just over 33 minutes, delivers the goods and wastes no time doing it; this is a satisfying dose of rock & roll fun with both brains and brawn, and this may well surprise folks who think or taught them everything they need to know about . ~ Mark Deming