Tenacious D is Jack Black and Kyle Gass. The two started out acting together and then formed a group. Eventually, they landed their own show on HBO, went on tour and established a rather impressive cult following.

Their debut album shows just why they were able to do these things. “Tenacious D” is an acoustic hard rock journey that ranges in content from the fiery depths of hell, to the sweet act of making love, to just plain rocking the house.

Tenacious D is well groomed in the art of heavy metal clich‚s that bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest helped spawn. The D gives numerous name checks to Satan on tracks like the hard rocking “Explosivo” and “Tribute.” Not to mention the phrases played backwards that are placed strategically on the record.

“Tribute” is one of the most interesting songs on the album. It isn’t the “greatest and best song in the world,” it’s just a tribute to the time Jack and Kyle were confronted by a demon who ordered them to play the best song in the world on pain of having their souls eaten.

Good or bad, the duo has an uncanny knack for junior high sex humor as is beautifully demonstrated in “Double Team” and “Fuck Her Gently.”

“You don’t always have to fuck her hard/ in fact sometimes that’s not right to do/ sometimes you have to make some love/ and fucking give some smooches too,” Black croons.

However, Tenacious members aren’t all style and no substance. Black, who handles the rhythm guitars and lead vocals, has a surprisingly impressive voice while his partner Kyle, who takes charge of the lead acoustic guitars on the album, can definitely hold his own.

It doesn’t hurt any that they get help in the percussion area from good friend and Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl, who also lends his talents on the electric guitar throughout the album as well.

One disappointing factor of the album is that only a handful of the tracks clock in at over three minutes. Not much content was added to the songs from the HBO series to the record, leaving a lot of songs sitting at under two minutes.

Tenacious D are Black Sabbath; they are Iron Maiden – just with acoustic guitars and piss-your-pants funny lyrics. But they aren’t a novelty Spinal Tap group; these guys throw down and rock you. After all, they are the self-proclaimed “greatest band in the world.”

-Trevor Fisher

When Tommy Walter got kicked out of the Eels due to creative disputes with the frontman, Walter went out on his own and formed a one-man band.

Abandoned Pools borrows elements from Oasis and Primitive Radio Gods and combines them with his own unique style. What results is a sort of orchestrated, electronic, bubble gum feel with a nice edge to it.

Walter’s split with the Eels was anything but cordial. After nearly 5 years, Walter gets to make a jab at his ex-bandmates with the opening lines to “The Remedy,” as he sings “I could use a shot of your Novocain,” making reference to an Eels radio single. He then sings, “My soul’s a fuse/ blows away your name.” During many of the verses, Walter’s voice strikingly resembles the utterances of Deftones’ Chino Moreno.

Another excellent song is “Mercy Kiss,” as it begins with a mixture of static and a slow, pulsating tone that leads nicely into a very catchy guitar riff.

As a whole, “Humanistic” is a real treat to listen to. In several of the songs, Walter includes synth-timpani and violins, as well as live piano and clarinet to further complement the beauty of the tracks.

The biggest drawback to the album is the overly poppish feel. It seems like “Pools” tried just a little too hard to fit in with pop culture, when he should have stuck more with his unique, prog-rock sound.

While it certainly doesn’t kill the record, it is a little disappointing when an album with so much strength and potential has to come up short by compromising its own integrity.

Still, they are good songs, but what could have been a great album ends up being a good one.

-Joel Federer

Remember Stryper? They were an ’80s hair-metal band that was also a Christian band. In the most celebrated time of sex, drugs and rock `n’ roll the music industry had ever seen, Stryper definitely stuck out. And they wore terrible black and yellow striped spandex too.

P.O.D. doesn’t wear spandex, nor is it a hair-metal band. But it is a Christian rap/metal group trying to make it in a genre in which frankly, being down with the Lord ain’t that cool.

Nonetheless, “Satellite” is one of the most solid metal albums of the year. The group shows a musical vision that will never be matched by the likes of other nu-metal bands.

All of the band’s material isn’t dedicated to praising Christ either.

Sure, you aren’t going to hear glorified tales of blood and gunplay, but that doesn’t mean that P.O.D. won’t do some chest bumping.

Vocalist Sonny addresses all challengers on the record’s first song, “Set It Off,” with this warning: “You want to disrespect/ Why do cowards talk the loudest/ Papa didn’t raise no punk/ On everything I love, if you ready/ Then come and get it son.”

The group does give plenty of praise to the Creator though. Not that it’s a bad thing, but it does tend to bog down the band in spots. Especially the constant Bible thumping of “Without Jah, Nothin'” and “The Messenjah.”

“Alive” and the album’s title track are the best examples of why P.O.D. might just stick around, even after the Bizkit goes Limp.

The melody built by guitarist Marcos and soulful singing by Sonny are a welcomed opposite to walls of guitar noise and rabid dog barking.

Things do get a little corny on the power ballad “Ghetto.” And the reggae “Ridiculous” featuring Eek-A-Mouse is just another recycled, rehashed attempt at capturing the reggae sound.

But some band or artist always survives the musical fad they were involved in and goes on to enjoy a long, lucrative career.

Bon Jovi survived hair metal, Pearl Jam survived grunge, and if they keep this up, P.O.D. will survive nu-metal.

-Trevor Fisher