Bright Flashes

Steeped in hardcore but progressive enough to try and pull punk in a new direction, Snapcase hasn't always succeeded and in fact, its back catalog is pretty flawed. But after a decade of daring to be different, Bright Flashes finds the band for the most part delivering the goods. What's funny is that this album is actually a hodgepodge of covers, remixes, and holdovers from 2002's End Transmission, but the diversity of the material holds the listener's interest in a way that no previous Snapcase album could. "Believe/Revolt," for instance, is bravely and successfully reborn as an aggressive club number and is offset by an explosive reworking of "Ten A.M." New entries, like the groove-laden "Dress Rehearsal" and the pummeling "Depth of Field," are an ideal forum for vocalist Daryl Taberski's caterwauling. If tributes to their heroes in Jane's Addiction and Helmet are well-placed albeit mostly straightforward, Snapcase's take on Devo's "Freedom of Choice" is musically muscular but just too far out of Taberski's limited range. Redemption for that blunder comes soon enough, however, as the blistering "Makeshift Tourniquet" ranks among the best in the band's canon. ~ John D. Luerssen, Rovi