Once upon a time, metal was metal, plain and simple. Then some idiot came up with the term speed metal, and the genre exploded into a bunch of nasty little subcategories. Today, we have to decide whether a band is just plain metal (Zeppelin, Black Sabbath), or speed metal (Metallica), or thrash metal (Anthrax), or death metal (Celtic Frost), or funky metal (Living Colour), or glam metal (Faster Pussycat) or, God forbid, commercial metal (Poison). And just when we think we're hip on the ever-growing lexicon, a new band comes bopping along and throws us a curveball.

Such is the case with Enuff Z'Nuff. This flashy foursome has stumbled into a territory previously uninvaded by longhaired noisy types and emerged with its own entry in the metal-hybrid sweepstakes. Marry the guitar crunch of vintage Cheap Trick with the melodic genius of XTC or Squeeze, and there you have it: Beatlesque metal.

The songs on this album – from the soaring harmonies and sizzling six-string backwash of "New Thing" and the badass boogie of "She Wants More" to the hypnotic "In the Groove" – have one common trait: deadly pop hooks. But nobody's trading hard-earned metal stripes for wimpy whimsy here. The band's sweet melodies are shot through with vicious guitar and solidified by drummer Vikki Foxx's heavy-handed backbeat.

Vocalist Donnie Vie is going to be plagued by Robin Zander comparisons (on "New Thing" and the striking "For Now," the vocal similarity is eerie), but it's not as if the members of Enuff Z'Nuff had pulled a Kingdom Come and had a field day with another band's legacy. The band's influences are audible, but they're revamped with equal measures of raw power and quirky pop inventiveness.

One more phrase in the metal dictionary isn't going to short-circuit anyone's brain. Let's face it: When you're dealing with metal as fresh as this, Enuff'Z never enough. (RS 562)

KIM NEELY