No Generation

Album Review

Lions' full-length debut album, No Generation, was released hot on the heels of their promising 2006 EP, Volume One, and a series of barnstorming performances at the Austin, Texas-based group's hometown SXSW Festival, which tempted many a record label to sign them right on the spot. Alas, in the end, no forthcoming offer was to their liking, and so the bandmembers took it upon themselves yet again to record and release their own music, once they'd amassed enough new examples of their idiosyncratic post-stoner rock. But it's an auspiciously patient beginning, not an explosive one at that, set into motion by the slow-burning "Start Movin'," and it's not until the much more dynamic, organ-enhanced title track locks into gear that Lions' more familiarly insistent, driving tempos are reestablished, completed by fluid lead guitars and Matt Drenick's conspiratorial half-whisper. Though it is only visited again by the excellent "Machine," it's this template that really showcases the group at its most inspired, unique best; attempts to branch out into sharper riffing punctuations on "Can You Hear Me?" and "All Hail" fly a little too close to Fu Manchu, and the softer attack wed to devious melodies heard on "She Gets Around" points to Queens of the Stone Age instead. There's also the stilted psychedelic wash of "White Angel," which curiously offers an unusually short acid trip and puts forth another interesting quality about Lions: their doggedness about keeping most every song short and to the point, within the hallowed three-minute range for maximum impact. Closing epic "Get Out Alive" is the lone exception, but makes up for it by fusing what feels like three songs into one, and abruptly moving from acoustic gentility to power chords. For all its many positive attributes, though, No Generation unfortunately lacks some of its predecessors' excitement and urgency, leaving listeners already aware of the band's potential hungering for more.