Nebula: Charged

About midway through God Says No, the fifth album by the New Jersey blacklight-metal band Monster Magnet, singer Dave Wyndorf exclaims, amidst a sea of fuzz and farfisa, "It's time you sucked the cock of the Fire God!" It's a hilarious moment that helps make the delightfully overblown "Kiss Of The Scorpion" (next best line: "you'll swim in the sweat of a million orgies") a career highlight. No other song on the comparatively restrained, surprisingly diverse God Says No is nearly as sublime, but most strike an entertaining balance between hedonism and portent, often within a single moment. Unabashedly silly yet self-aware enough to name-check Jack Kirby in earnest (on "Melt"), Monster Magnet isn't afraid to court ponderousness at times, but there's little question that it's made another appealing throwback to the best in '70s hard rock. A spin-off of the huge-sounding desert-rock band Fu Manchu, Nebula feels less gimmicky than Monster Magnet—the Fire God's needs are not met at any point during its sophomore album Charged—but it knows just as much about pulsating, old-fashioned, guitar-driven, stoner-friendly rock. The worst that can be said about Charged is that it tends to eschew charisma in favor of one long, bludgeoning clap of guitar thunder. But the turgid swirl of Eddie Glass' instrument has enough charisma (or, at the very least, sets a distinct enough mood) to adequately compensate. Individual songs don't stand out nearly as much as Glass' unmistakable guitar tone, which recalls a time, place, scene, and smell like few other sounds.