Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

This Arlington, VA, band hones in on a sound that elusively slips around between styles of rock as if it was a time machine with a few loose fuses. One moment it's a roots rock sound, the next a tight, nervous new wave beat, then a fuzzbox kicks in around a catchy melody and it is almost like pre-Nirvana grunge. This set of songs suffers from excessive repetition of several devices that would have come across as more clever if used less frequently. And as a whole, the songs sound too similar to each other, almost like a continuing story that the listener might not want to hear the end of. The voice of leader Karl Straub is really beautiful, though, often bringing a song amazingly to life from one breath to the next. Several standout tracks are worthy of attention, especially the dark, disturbing "Acid Black" and the lyrically captivating "Rock Salt."