Electric Frankenstein

Trends come and go fast in the rock biz, but the primordial magic of big, dumb, knuckle-dragging rock’n’roll never seems to get old. This is good news for Electric Frankenstein, a scuzzy gang of West Jersey miscreants who’ve evidently never met three chords they didn’t like and could probably recite every greasy lick and contorted growl on Raw Power word-for-word without breaking a sweat. Sophistication clearly isn’t their strong suit — their riffs are loveably unoriginal, their lyrics charmingly sub-moronic — but they can sure kick up a gritty, two-fisted gutterpunk ruckus when sufficiently pissed-up. The title track of their latest explodes into a snarling riff-rock corker, while the fist-meets-face guitar onslaught and meaty Sabbath bass thump gives "Everybody’s Dead Again” a mighty wallop. Not surprisingly, the band’s demolition of the Cars’ "Candy-O” swaps out the nerdy neediness of the original, replacing it with leering, beer-goggled menace. Sure, EF’s primitive, super-stupid sleaze-rock may not be overly taxing on the brain, but great rock music rarely thinks with any organs above the belt anyway. Like brain damage, only way more exciting.