Pet Genius - S/T

Hydra Head Records

Much like Mike Patton's chameleon-like musical career, Stephen Brodsky has been consistently releasing albums with several projects for the better part of a decade. His most famous endeavor, Cave In, even had a musical metamorphosis of their own, going from intricate metal to Failure influenced space-rock to straight-up alt-rock then, finally, to a mix of all of the above. Pet Genius is the singer-songwriter's latest project and it also features members of Clouds, Octave Museum and the great Doomriders. The first thing that stands out on their self-titled album is the dirty guitar tones on "Doomsday." You can definitely point out some White Stripes and Rolling Stones influence in the riffing and note bends. Brodsky's vocals are informed by the bands that ruled FM rock in the early 70's. Who knew the guy had a Robert Plant-like wail waiting to jump out of his chest?!

The revisionism doesn't stop there. The band visit 60's psychedelia on "The Visiting Dynamiter," with its charming vocal melodies and acid-soaked guitar arrangement. But things do rock harder on tracks like "Man of the Mountain" and "Float My Boat." The spirit of latter day Beatles is found throughout, at least in terms of the experimentation. Unfortunately, these forays don't always hit the mark. They go too far into "cuckoo-land" on "Trash Heap Swing" where they come off sounding like a half-hearted Captain Beefheart cover band. But for the most part, Pet Genius is a successful journey with plenty of awarding hooks and a solid songwriting foundation.

By Carlos Ramirez