Be prepared, this album is a tornado of old school with some fresh winds to carry you out to Oz. Call it stoned psych-rock, call it snakes in the grass, call it what you will; Bacchus King's debut album will pump you up and play out like a good live show, demanding that you catch them in the act of performing.

Kevin Boldwin heads this heavy-hitting power trio on guitar and vocals, while the bass and drums set grooves and knock them down into ever tighter bursts of fury. Boldwin's guitar playing usually holds a nice Hendrix flare while its distortion slides in and out of the rhythm section's hot-handled layers. While singing he can bridge the gap between Jeff Buckley's croon and Todd Lewis's fever pitch. Indeed, "Medicine" and "God Only Knows" could have been written by the Toadies, with a power that many bands have died trying to achieve.

Tracks like "Snake Oil" bring out the band's blues influences. "You Can't Get There FromHere" is a punk tune with a bottle in hand and a harmonica in the other. It's darker and slick with the sweat and grease of a hundred bar rumbles that were probably fought to its growl. Bacchus King comes at you hard and fast, but they're kind enough to give you a few rounds of the good stuff before they really lay you out. (Curve of the Earth)