“God Says No” Monster Magnet Compare to: Black Sabbath, Guns N’ Roses, Deep Purple *** 1/2

“God Says No,” Monster Magnet’s fifth album, is a bizarre, yet brilliant architecture of trippy psychedelic vibes and burly, sweaty, black-leather hard rock.

It is pretty evident that on this record, Monster Magnet set out to make an album on their own terms doing whatever they like, instead of following today’s hard rock/metal formula for success.

Lead singer Dave Wyndorf and co. are from the school of big hooks and even bigger riffs, and it shows on songs like “Silver Future” and the first single from the album, “Heads Explode.” The combination of mammoth guitar licks and sing along choruses is something that Black Sabbath perfected back in the `70s and that Monster Magnet has brought back for the new millennium.

And although Wyndorf has been clean and sober for five years now, Monster Magnet still knows how to do the “drug rock” thing they are credited with reviving. Just listen to the organ-infested sounds of “Cry” and “Kiss of the Scorpion” for proof. It’s hard to tell whether it’s The Doors or Monster Magnet.

Even though Wyndorf claims to be clean, it’s hard to imagine he wasn’t on something when he wrote the S&M-inspired “Take It.” What makes the song so weird and interesting are the corny beats that sound like they were lifted straight from a Fisher-Price keyboard. Lyrics like “oh little baby you’re so fucked up/ too much of that and there ain’t no love/ stay in the closet and stay real still/ daddy’s gonna feed you another pill,” also add to the mood.

“Gravity Well,” another track with sexual themes (hopefully by now the excessive sex-drugs-and-rock-n’-roll persona that Monster Magnet so gladly endorses is evident) is a full-on blues slide guitar track. The range of musical tastes on this album is quite extraordinary for a hard rock act.

“God Says No” far outshines any previous records from Monster Magnet. And the band has accomplished being sleazier than ever, and that is saying a whole lot for these guys. More sex, more drugs, and more rock n’ roll equal a superb album for Monster Magnet.

– Trevor Fisher