Everything about the first single from Australian import The Vines smells like Nirvana. Featuring a simple, chainsaw opening riff, screamed yet in tune vocals and John Bonham-esque drumming, it’s easy to imagine “Get Free” is one of the long lost Nirvana tracks Courtney Love has been hoarding away.

Lyrics such as “She never loved me/ Why should anyone?” evoke Kurt Cobain’s insecurity and self-disgust. And Andy Wallace, who added his technical genius to “Nevermind,” even mixed the track.

So it would be simple for rock ‘n’ roll fans and critics to scoff and label these young punks from Down Under as just a clever Nirvana knock-off.

But those who dismissed The Vines would be quite wrong.

The lush harmonies of “Homesick” and “Country Yard” and the slightly psychedelic “Autumn Shade” and “Mary Jane,” which closes in washed-out feedback that swirls behind clean finger-picking, finally ending with a swishing wind chime, show the Vines’ creative separation from the masses.

Radio and industry buzz seems to be focused on bands with a “The” in their names; but there is more depth to The Vines than most of the new, so-called saviors of rock, including The Hives and The Strokes.

Tracks such as the 94-second grunge-fest “Highly Evolved” and “Factory,” which sounds more than a bit like the “White Album”-era Beatles making sweet, sweet rock ‘n’ roll love with Cobain, make this album one of the best of the year.

-Jon Dahlager

Don’t try telling Otep Shamaya that girls can’t do heavy metal. This girl ain’t no Lita Ford, and she might just bash your face in.

Unfortunately, Shamaya and fellow bandmates, eViLj, Moke and Rob fail to put out anything that we haven’t been hearing from the likes of Slipknot for the last five years. In fact, it’s hard to understand how Otep didn’t realize how similar “Sevas Tra” sounds to both Slipknot records.

The record is full of tribal laced drum beats and bone grinding death metal riffs that conjures up Iowa’s masked madmen.

But Jesus can this woman throw down some hellacious metal vocals. We’ve heard heavy metal females like those in Kittie try to growl like the boys of rock, but sound more like 12-year-old boys mid-puberty.

Not Shamaya, her screaming, growling and barking on songs like “Blood Pigs,” “My Confession” and “Battle Ready” give goose bumps up and down the arms.

But it isn’t enough to save this record. Shamaya’s rapping on “T.R.I.C.” is borderline ridiculous. “To all you weak mcs/all you fake ass wannabes/if you step in the ring be prepared to swing.” You haven’t heard rhymes like these since Ron Jeremy did that rap song back in the day.

Other times songs turn out to be nothing but slow instrumentals with Shamaya speaking over the track and talking about weird voodoo stuff and being abused as a kid. Much like Jonathon Davis of Korn, much of Shamaya’s lyrics concentrate on the abuse she suffered as a child.

“No daddy don’t/leave me alone/no I don’t want to be free/so take your kick out of me,” Shamaya screams on “Jonestown Tea,” a song documenting some of the sexual abuse she suffered as a child.

The phrase `less talk, more rock’ might never have applied to any band more than Otep.

The band has moments that catch one’s attention, but the problem is, those moments aren’t Otep’s. Instead they are just rehashed pieces from death metal bands who have been doing this for years .

-Trevor Fisher

“Hard Candy” is an apt title for Counting Crows’ fourth studio album. With production by Steve Lillywhite (Dave Matthews Band, U2) the record sounds great while it’s playing, but quickly fades when finished.

“If I Could Give My All My Love – Or – Richard Manuel is Dead” is propelled by lead guitar/piano combination that would fit perfectly on the Beatles’ “Let It Be” but Adam Duritz’s characteristically angst-filled lyrics can’t stifle the track’s bouncy melody.

Most of the tracks focus on three rock `n’ roll standards: girls, places, and girls and places.

The simultaneously mournful and hopeful “Goodnight L.A.” features clever contradictory couplets such as “But I don’t mind the dark discovering the day/ Cause the night is a beautiful bright blue and gray,” and “But I don’t mind the days gone rolling away/ Cause this sunlight feels warm on my face today.”

Duritz’s lyrics haven’t suffered with time and better production, and neither has the band’s sound.

The thing is, there just isn’t much to care about on “Hard Candy.” “American Girls,” the first single off the album, will easily fit onto adult contemporary playlists across the United States, as will nearly every other song on the album.

And that audience will find much to enjoy about Counting Crows’ latest effort. Instead of popping “Hard Candy” into their mouths and absentmindedly sucking, 40-somethings will pop the CD into their stereos and uninterestedly bob their heads to the pleasurable but thoroughly unchallenging sounds.

-Jon Dahlager