Alien Ant Farm: Anthology : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Take your average rap-metal geeks. Imagine them playing their instruments really well. Now subtract the rapping and add a classic power-pop yelp, and you've got Alien Ant Farm. The first signing to Papa Roach's New Noize label, this SoCal foursome boasts the mosh power of its famous friends, but with a lot more ingenuity, tunes and chops, as if Korn had half-morphed into Cheap Trick.

Anthology, the sequel to its 1999 debut, Greatest Hits, showcases the quartet's drum-tight heaviness as it twists in layers of nuance and wit. Martial riffs pummel the verses of "Summer" and "Sticks and Stones," and the choruses ache with a vocal dexterity and depth of expression that hard rock has been lacking since Freddie Mercury. Dryden Mitchell sings with a sweetness and anxiety that rival Michael Jackson. Finally, a band packs enough balls to put the melody back in metal. (RS 869 - May 24, 2001)

BARRY WALTERS