To say that
Rock & Roll Submarine
picks up where
Exit the Dragon
left off is not damning with faint praise. It is no small thing for
Urge Overkill
to reunite 16 years later -- minus
Blackie Onassis
, whose heroin addiction was instrumental to the band's split -- and to not just stumble but to deliver a credible sequel to the sinewy, stripped-down
, which itself played as a vague hangover to the oversized wannabe blockbuster
Saturation
. That same sense of foreboding underpins portions of
, but
Nash Kato
and
Eddie "King" Roeser
wear weariness well, particularly now that they've abandoned their ironic dreams of stardom and have settled into rock & roll survivors.
still subscribe to their old-school definition of rock & roll, punctuating their grinding riffs with the occasional dose of elegantly moody introspection, but
doesn't feel mired in the past because
UO
are determined to keep everything rough and ragged, deliberately keeping the focus fuzzy and left of center. Such grit separates
from the legions of too carefully considered comebacks, but the thing that distinguishes this record from
Urge
's other excellent albums is that there are no affectations, no play acting, nothing delivered with a tongue planted in cheek. To be sure, there's humor -- look at the album title -- but
are taking everything dead seriously, playing for the sake of music itself, giving
an unexpected soul and heart that makes it a rousing comeback. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine