During the two months I was in Hartford in 1999, I kept hearing about this band called Cave-In. They seemed to be playing shows near ours on a regular basis, but we never ended up playing on a bill with them or even catching a show. They were described to me as a "weird metal band".

Last year, I finally got to catch them live when they opened for Jimmy Eat World at the Tabernacle. I'd already heard that they weren't a "weird metal band" anymore, but I was completely unprepared for how amazing their set was. I can count on one hand the number of bands who've impressed me so much on the first try. (The short list includes Starbilly, Jejune, and You Am I.) I would have bought their EP at the show had they not kept telling us how all of their songs were off their upcoming CD.

Well, here's the upcoming CD. And, holy crap, it's good.

Truthfully, I downloaded the album first off of IRC. And, two songs in, I wiped the MP3's off my computer, drove to Best Buy, and bought it.

Some people describe the album as Foo Fighters meets Radiohead. That's a pretty fair assessment. It's solid rock music that isn't afraid to take some risks and go in unexpected directions. They've clearly been tempered a little for a major-label audience, but I don't mind that at all.

Highlights: "Stained Silver", "Inspire", "Joy Opposites"

(Off-topic note: I'm severely disappointed in the indie rock intelligencia in the way they're reviewing this album. I've seen more than one review where the writer simply failed it because it wasn't the "weird metal" that they wanted to see from this band. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me - these are the younger siblings of the folk who trashed Jawbreaker's Dear You because the band signed with a major label and had the audacity to record a major label album. Get a life, guys. If you don't like where the band is going, get off the bandwagon.)

After the last couple of years, "emo" has come to describe wimpy, whiny music along the lines of Dashboard Confessional and, uh, Dashboard Confessional.

"Emo" wasn't always like that. It used to rock. Sure, there were slow songs, but there were also the fast-paced and frenetic tunes that used to make me pump my fists in the air. And, after all of this time, I'd almost forgotten what that old-school emo used to sound like.

This album is about as close to how it used to be as you'll find these days. For starters, it rocks. No whining here, either.

I knew going into this that the band included the singer from Quicksand (as well as members of other strong 90's-era indie "punk" bands), so maybe it shouldn't be too surprising that it almost sounds like a Quicksand album at times. Mainly in the mastering - the songs are somewhat mid-rangey like Quicksand's records were.

Highlights: "Travel by Telephone", "Used for Glue", "The Switch"

("Used for Glue" was in my Now Playing last summer. It's too bad it took me so long to pick this album up.)

I saw Jerry play a brief Alice-in-Chains-heavy set at a free concert last summer. I'd heard "Anger Rising", and liked it, but the other new material didn't really do anything for me. Plus, I'd heard the stories about how Jerry intended Degradation Trip to be a two-disc set, so I balked at buying it in its one-disc version.

When Roadrunner finally released the two-disc version, I figured it was worth picking up. That more or less broke my rule about not buying a disc without liking three songs first, but I was seriously curious to hear what two discs of Jerry Cantrell sounded like.

Honestly? I was a pretty big Alice in Chains fan. Not really huge - I was definitely turned off by the more plodding songs on their last album. A lot of this set plods like that latter AiC stuff. But there are some major hooks buried amidst the plodding.

I think I have to be in the right mood to listen to this. The first couple of times, it did nothing for me. Then, one night, I listened to almost the whole thing all the way through, and was mesmerized. The next time, nothing again.

I always like a good challenge. And, surprisingly, some of the songs that I picked as faves were left off of the single-disc version of the album. But I think I can understand why Roadrunner had trouble selling this disc. (Even so, I think their decision not to continue supporting Jerry on tour is simply deplorable.)

This is definitely not for everyone. But if you like the darker side of grunge, this might be worth your time.