When you talk about the Golden Palominos, you're essentially talking about drummer Anton Fier, because this revolving-door, avant-garde supergroup was his idea (way back in 1982), and his sensibility – a brooding mix of corrosive bitterness and something ineffably lovely and sad – has dominated each of the five albums the group has released over the last eight years. An epic drummer and inventive producer, Fier is supremely gifted; however, a few vital ingredients seem to be missing from Drunk With Passion, the Palominos' latest outing.

The tepid, undercooked tone of the album is largely traceable to the fact that it falls on the shoulders of the group's new lead vocalist, Amanda Kramer, to carry the record, and she's not up to the task. Things start off promisingly enough with Kramer's first track, "The Haunting"; it's one of the strongest cuts on the album, performed and produced in such a way that Kramer's voice seems to emanate from the same celestial chamber out of which the Cocteau Twins operate. Kramer has a very pretty voice indeed, but she can't fill the shoes of former Palominos vocalist Syd Straw.

Kramer's voice hasn't the range or the character of Straw's, but more problematic than her voice is her writing. Four tunes she wrote with Fier and guitarist Nicky Skopelitis wander aimlessly. Perhaps Kramer is failing to breathe life into potentially good material, but it seems impossible to salvage these songs: The melodies are drab, the rhythms monochromatic, and they each lack any trace of hook, riff or groove.

Drunk With Passion is not without strong moments. Bob Mould does a knockout John Lydon impression on a snarling rocker called "Dying From the Inside Out"; Michael Stipe kicks off the album with a sunny little number, "Alive and Living Now"; and longtime Palomino Robert Kidney all but steals the show with "Begin to Return," an exquisitely ethereal piece that lingers in the mind like a whispered secret. So don't get me wrong – this album is a masterpiece compared to most of what's on the charts these days, but anyone familiar with the Palominos' back pages will know that Fier can do better. (RS 618)

KRISTINE MCKENNA