Monster Magnet

There’s no mistaking the slinky grooves and bong-sucking, laidback atmosphere that permeates a Monster Magnet album. Once again, band main man Dave Wyndorf — boogie rock’s Dave Grohl, if you will — makes his way through a collection of songs that ride the line between Fu Manchu’s surging riffs, Black Sabbath’s mysticism and Nebula’s blatant appeal to the stoned masses on 4-Way Diablo. Little has changed for the band, however. Songs such as "Wall Of Fire” and "You’re Alive” sound as if it’s still 1994 and these guys are draped with Coop-ish devil girls and sporting aviator sunglasses. Brainless grooves and even thicker lyrics abound, which is a good thing given that one wouldn’t want the Magnet to start crooning about politics and critical mass instead of half-naked women and cruising the universe. Things do falter at times, when the tempo almost stagnates on the ballad-y "Blow Your Mind” but one can’t fault this crew for one bad apple in a collection of others that perfectly toe the fuzzed-out line.