Evil Needs Candy Too

Singer Ani Kyd fronted a number of minor punk-metal bands before finally releasing her solo debut. Evil Needs Candy Too sounds shockingly like former 4 Non Blondes leader/songwriter-for-hire Linda Perry (really, the vocal similarity is uncanny) fronting a heavy stoner rock band in the Kyuss tradition. It's not a bad combination, not least since Kyd thankfully doesn't engage in some of Perry's most obnoxious vocal tics, and the band (driven by the rhythm section of bassist Byron Stroud and drummer Gene Hoglan, both formerly of tongue-in-cheek Canadian rockers Strapping Young Lad) shies away from bombast. In fact, the album's 16 songs tend toward punky minimalism, both in arrangement and in length. (Not surprising, since the album was produced by Alternative Tentacles head Jello Biafra, always a big believer in less-is-more.) This is definitely a metal album, however; from the doomy grind of the opening "Rejoyce" (not the Jefferson Airplane song, amusing though that would be) onwards, Kyd and second guitarist Ian White build the songs on an impressive array of piledriver riffs in a variety of tempos and styles. This gives Evil Needs Candy Too a wider sonic spectrum than many similar albums, one that recalls post-punk experimenters like the Meat Puppets or Concrete Blonde as much as it does At the Drive-In.