Golden Time

Golden Time is a noisy, focused statement of intent from the Rock*A*Teens. That intent is to make listeners feel that they're hearing a crazed rock band in a vacuum. Each song is a mini-epic of confused crooning and wailing, drenched in atmosphere and dipped in poetry. There's a general feeling that one is hearing some sort of gothic rockabilly, not due to spooky subject matter, but due to the general chaos and weird keyboards that peek around corners. The subject matter mostly adheres to ruminations on relationships, sounding like grizzled iambic pentameter. "Small Town Soap Opera" is indicative of the general goings-on; "There's cats in your head, but don't listen to a single word they said," vocalist Chris Lopez sings as his band burns wickedly through Southern noir. "All That Deth Jazz" is similarly creepy and extremely compelling; musically and thematically suggesting a bar band in a David Lynch film, Lopez and company detail jewelry obsession and the state of contentment in "hillbilly" life. The Rock*A*Teens are all about atmosphere and power. "Tuesday's Just as Bad" and "Black Metal Stars" seem derived from some sort of rock gods; the band members drive their songs as much they play them...and at a most rewarding velocity. Every song is possessed of great, mad character and full of joyous hooks. Lopez never hesitates in taking a song to its inevitable conclusion of emotional release. "Love Is Boss" wouldn't work half as well without Lopez's shouts of "your love is boss" in the chorus. While the band's next album, Sweet Bird of Youth, would solidify the band's visionary status ("HWY R" could very well be the best song of 2000 and must be heard), Golden Time is perhaps the more cohesive and therefore rewarding release. It's a document of a band, on the brink of greatness, making a perfect, moody rock album.