Solarized

Monster Magnet front-man Dave Wyndorf allegedly said that, "if Solarized was a comic character, it would be Galactus." A more appropriate comparison might be to the copycat villain the Impossible Man. There's little to distinguish Solarzied from any other third-tier stoner rock act playing to half-empty clubs across the continent. Mastermind James Hogan deserves recognition for how hard he's worked on this project, what with writing all the words and music, producing the disc and doing the artwork (hint: next time hire someone). It all almost works, as you get the sense of what he wanted to do, but it comes up short. Hogan growls and roars theatrically while his band supplies big riffs and even tastefully plonked cowbell, but they just don't seem able to escape mediocrity. Maybe after a little woodshedding, Hogan will be able to come back wise enough to fuck with formulas in more dynamic and original ways, especially with his Neanderthal lyrics: "As the world just keeps spinnin', like the hands of father time, Standin' on the brink of madness, but we haven't lost our minds... Born, Of, Fi, Yah!" Born of stupidity, more like.