Legend of the World (CD - 2006)

Audio Mixer: Fred Archambault.

Recording information: The Hobbie Shoppie, Beverly Hills, CA.

Photographers: Justin Lyon; Ryan Immegart.

The true genius -- and correlated great tragedy -- about Valient Thorr is that, like heavy rock titans such as the MC5 and Ted Nugent, no studio album is likely to ever capture the sheer power and liberating revelation of their inspired, nearly evangelical live performances, which usually find charismatic frontman Valient Himself leading the band's wild electric mayhem to sanctified heights of a rock & roll prayer meeting. Well, but they can try, and Legend of the World is the Venusian/North Carolinian quintet's third stab at this challenge, and a tall order in general, given the greatness of 2005's wonderfully entertaining Total Universe Man. On Legend of the World, Valient Thorr return to planet Earth shaggier and denim-claddier than ever before, spewing double-or-nothing-entendre song-ditties dedicated to eviscerating the U.S. government and organized religion ("Exit Strategy," "Goveruptcy," "False Profits," etc.) and describing their travels through the cosmos ("Lime Green Net," "Stormstris") in equal measures. Sometimes they even mix politics and science fiction in unfailingly entertaining fashion -- see "Rezerection," "Har Megiddo," the epic "Fall of Pangea," and "Heatseeker," where a hyper-paranoid Valient Himself complains about people going through his mail. But whatever the subject, real or imaginary (and to some conservative retrogrades, one may seem as implausible and un-American as the other), it takes some guts for Valient Thorr to voice them so brazenly -- not to mention eschew meaningless hippie preaching to demand action, action, ACTION! Unfortunately, although they are routinely compelling and unpredictable in their riff sequences (and regularly more imaginative and thought-provoking than most any contemporary hard rock band working in the mid 2000s), Legend of the World's songs don't pack quite as many timeless hooks and licks as those heard on its predecessor. Blame it on the "studio" issue for now, and maybe Valient Thorr's next invasion will finally manage to translate the group's on-stage ferocity to plastic. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia minimize