Less Than Jake

“B is for B-Sides” (Sire)

Compare to: Save Ferris, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Goldfinger

If ‘B’ is for “B-Sides,” then Less Than Jake must be creating the new alphabet to appear in a “Punk Rock for Dummies” book, which should feature their latest attempt in the ska/punk genre.

The album opens with a catchy song that looks back upon all the “fuck ups and fall downs” of the band, and is one of the few songs on the album to feature horns, a must-have for any ska band. “Portrait of a Cigarette Smoker at 19,” unfortunately, is also one of the few songs that really stands out from the rest.

The majority of the following songs seem to take a look back on a past filled with regrets and screw ups, the kind of stuff you’d expect to hear from high schoolers, not from a band that has more than a decade of experience.

Even though the rest of the album keeps its catchy, pop-punk attitude, it seems to lack some much needed effort and energy. It is not until the seventh track, “Jay Frenzal,” that we see some sort of variety, as we are told a mildly amusing story of a man who “broke our bus” and happens to be “a big redneck with a meth habit.”

Lyrics stuck in a past of quick-fame aren’t the only problem for Less Than Jake, whose forgettable guitar riffs seem to blend together from song to song. The final few tracks fail to save the album, and, as with the rest of the songs before them, uninspired lyrics are sung over what seems, at times, to be the same three chords used in the song before, and the song before that.

While fans of the group may enjoy this album, Less Than Jake fails to make any sort of progress, which may leave fans of the genre wanting something more — namely variety.

— Judah Melton

Dillinger Escape Plan

“Miss Machine” (Relapse)

Compare to: Mr. Bungle, The Blood Brothers, Between the Buried and Me

Two words come to mind when thinking about Dillinger Escape Plan: technicality and mania. Five years ago, the band released “Calculating Infinity,” an aggressive trip through a psych ward. Elements of grindcore, metal, jazz, noise, and punk were jumbled together to create a jarring and spectacular display of what hardcore could sound like at the time.

Now, in 2004, the band returns with a new vocalist, Greg Puciato, and a new outlook on what is possible. Forgetting the trappings of so many hardcore albums, the boys don’t spend time worrying about how to achieve the perfect breakdown, or how to express the heartbreak of losing one’s high school sweetheart.

Tracks like “Van Damsel” begin with an aural assault that borders on the absurd, then artfully breaks down into a grim and dirty reminder to the rest of the hardcore crowd that they won’t settle anything less than nonstop insanity.

However, the following track, “Phone Home” highlights one of the problems with the album. While Puciato is an amazingly talented vocalist, he often comes off sounding like a Mike Patton clone. “We Are The Storm,” a soft interlude, shows Puciato’s emulation of the so-called ‘hardcore Pavarroti’ as he longingly moans “It’s time to let it go,” right before the band launches back into a Meshuggah-esque spastic ending.

Both fearless and fearsome when it comes to breaking barriers, the band’s newfound abilities to absolutely rock on this disc showcase why so many other groups have tried to copy their style.

— Josh Nelson

The Hives

“Tyrannosaurus Hives” (Interscope)

Compare to: The White Stripes, The Shins, Mando Diao

If The Hives and The Strokes were thrown back in time to the 1960s and the space race, The Hives would still be on the ground while The Strokes were floating their monkey around in a spaceship. The Hives’ latest album “Tyrannosaurus Hives” seems like a step backwards for the Swedish rockers, with less solid tracks than their second full-length album of 2000, “Veni, Vidi, Vicious.”

Not to say that “Tyrannosaurus Hives” isn’t in typical Hives fashion — there is plenty of energy-driven guitar work and screeching from Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist. But even after many listens, the tracks seem to run together and get boring, suggesting that The Hives needed to expand on its signature style to show some maturity.

If you are looking for some great music to skank to, and a great live show — The Hives and “Tyrannosaurus Hives” will do that for you. But the monotonous guitar riffs and clichZ beat won’t give you the good listen you’re aching for.

Some possible highlights of the album are the tracks “No Pun Intended” and “A Little More for Little You.” Both feature some decent musical structure and lyrics, and both give you the twinge of excitement you might have felt when first listening to the band a few years ago. “A Little More for Little You” has hints of ska, which is a little refreshing for the band.

A lot was expected from the band when they came onto the punk-rock scene in 2000, and “Tyrannosaurus Hives” will probably keep them afloat. But this album will do little to help the ensemble really take off.

—Kathryn Fiegen

Godsmack

“The Other Side” (Universal)

Compare to: Alice in Chains, Disturbed, Rob Zombie

Some bands will forever sound the same. Their new albums are so similar lyrically and musically to old albums that the only entertainment they afford is trying to find three new chords and guitar riffs. Godsmack has taken this concept to new extremes with its fourth album, “The Other Side.”

Though the album is meant to be a high definition audio experience it’s not worth purchasing simply out of aural curiosity.

Of the seven tracks on the disc, four are unoriginal reproductions of songs from earlier albums or spin-offs that rearrange lyrics and add or cut a few phrases to create a “new” song. “Keep Away” is the same “Keep Away” from their self-titled debut album and “Re-Align” is lifted straight from 2003’s “Faceless.”

Godsmack’s sophomore attempt “Awake” contributes two sets of song lyrics to “The Other Side” — the cleverly titled “Asleep,” which is nothing more than “Awake” with a few words changed and “Spiral” which is lyrically identical to “The Spiral” with the exciting new twist of switching up the second and third verses.

The three remaining tracks seem original enough, but where does the band get off selling three new songs as a new album? Nowhere on their Web site or in the literature (if you could call it that) that comes with the album is it mentioned that listeners will be duped into buying reproductions of old material.

Unless you’re willing to shell out the extra cash for a high definition system, “The Other Side” offers nothing new.

— Krista Driscoll