The Flying Luttenbachers have a very long and interesting history, beginning in 1992 as a straight up free jazz trio. I thought naively that's what I would be getting here. Silly me. Perhaps the full-frontal guitar photo on the cover should have clued me in.

This version of the Luttenbachers is a filthy, string-driven power trio, all heavily amped riffage in complex arrangements rife with dissonance and humor. From time to time familiar sounding bits pop in and wave, a nod and wink to the past. As an added plus, there are no over-the-top vocals to get in the way (rock bands without vocalists might seem a bit thin on the ground, until you think about it.) I hear echoes of Gore and Gone, even latter-day Black Flag, all agreeable company methinks. These guys are "tight", as the kids say, and head-snappingly diverse within their given modus.

I've always thought of Weasel Walter as a drummer, but he "handles" the guitar here as if he's done it all his life. Aided and abetted by Luke Polipnick on Bass and Charlie Werber on Drums, he chips away at a rich vein and pockets the nuggets for later. I listened to this in my car the first time through, and it lent a serious air of intensity to my drive. Background music it definitely isn't! I'd be hard-pressed to assign a genre to this stuff, but it bears the earmarks of metal with big spoonfuls of prog, all wrapped in greasy leftover butcher paper and tied with wet twine. I'm going back for seconds.