Three Fantastic

Man, what a frustrating CD from a frustrating band. Everyone in Three Fantastic can really play. Guitarists Kelly Doyle and Charles Peters (who also sings in a distinct, dry baritone) show off killer six-string interplay. The rhythm section – bassist Evan Groeschel and drummer David Taschery – is supertight. And yet this album and all its herky-jerky tangents mostly "Japanese" begins as a lovely, warm soak in guitar jangle and synth massage over shaken percussion and builds naturally into frenzied and tense guitar rock. "I Have a Plan" is among the softest songs on the set, and the band's forays off the beaten path here – a frenzied, scratched guitar attack – work well. (The spoken interludes will either charm you or freak you out. I opt for the former.) And "Etude de Pop" (which features Matt Kelly on Hammond organ) is another success; for once, the band confines itself to a mere two or three different riffs, and they are all agreeable and amiable.

Three Fantastic

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More About

• Charles Peters
• Evan Groeschel
• David Taschery
• Matt Kelly

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Frustration abounds elsewhere. The band employs and discards enough good riffs to fill ten strong albums, but the transitions between them are too abrupt if they exist at all. They segue from cocktail jazz to Halen-esque metal in the blink of an eye, and from thrash to Latin and back again. It's kinda like watching tennis on 10X fast-forward. Most maddening of all is "Ruby I Hate You," which builds up to a frothy jazz brew that almost but never arrives: Guitars squall and simmer, and Peters practically croons as the guitars build toward an anthem. And then it's gone just like that. The guitars are grounded just as they are primed to take flight, and Peters is roaring about how he "can't stop love with natural reactions." Maybe not, but you can kill a dazzling crescendo with an unnatural fascination with showing off Mr. Bungle-like tangents.