Orange Goblin: Time Travelling Blues

From the same murky cesspool of bongwater, comic books, and thick guitar that gave birth to Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu comes the tragically named Orange Goblin. One look at the Roger Dean-style futuristic lettering and the bird-flipping biker woman on the cover, and you know you're in for a treat. Time Travelling Blues is rich with vague sci-fi themes ("The Man Who Invented Time") and numerous repetitions of the word "baby, and it drips with hot acid-metal guitar hooks and shameless rock 'n' roll posturing. In short, it screams at the alienated adolescent in everyone to make heavy metal fun. Drummer Chris Turner is possibly the hardest-working member of the band: On "Snail Hook," he robotically guides it through numerous tempo shifts. With its freak-out two-guitar combo, Orange Goblin plows into your skull and lodges itself there without pause or remorse. The only downside of Time Travelling Blues is its uncredited 10th track, a studio goof that pulls aside the curtain and lets you see that the great and powerful OG is actually five wieners who like to drink beer and have fun. Not like you didn't already know that, of course, but in this case, the unwavering illusion is just as important as the music. If you push that song aside, it's easy to slip into the band's fantasy given the barrage of science-fiction references. Once there, you can't help but wonder: Is Orange Goblin actually a time-traveling band from the past, here to return us to the true path of rock Were that the case, there's little doubt that America would never stray again.