The Energy

On their first LP, Houston supergroup The Energy sounds like a band possessed by death. Imagine the spirit and ghastliness of "Death Trip," from the Stooges' Raw Power, drawn and quartered across eight tracks and you can understand The Energy's First Album. Made up of members of No Talk, Hell City Kings and Wicked Poseur, The Energy's noise is incredibly blunt and discards vaguery for outright depravity. Lead singer Arthur Bates sings about committing suicide or "jerking off to a riot" ("I Won't Let You Waste Me"), sounding like Joey Ramone on a handful of downers. Every single one of the LP's eight tracks throbs with desperation, especially the four-part "Stabbing in the Dark." This is easily one of the bleakest albums to come out of Houston in the past few years, and it was birthed by more than capable hands from one of the city's most vital musical nuclei.