Tempting fate with a great gimmick, Morphine barreled into the fast lane five years ago, driving a chesty blare of two-string slide bass, baritone sax and drums into the murky twilight of rock noir. Fueled by taut, inveigling songs of sex and paranoia, the Boston trio's glowering cool was (and is) as unmistakable as Bogey and as persuasive as the bouncer in a strip joint.

Morphine's power alley, for all its pungent back-streets atmosphere, allows few stylistic detours and, evidently, no exit. Four albums in, the band is riding the same sound like a slot car; even the welcome flashes of instrumental variety on Like Swimming (also the name of a recent solo project by singer and bassist Mark Sandman) don't lead the band far from its usual track. The raucous, multistring assault that rushes through "Eleven O'Clock" and "Murder for the Money" merely ups the excitement level a notch. The funky beat and synthesizer squiggles of "Early to Bed" don't appreciably strengthen the song's case against sensible sleeping habits; the keyboards that stir the aphrodisia of "Potion" are nothing more than potential garnishes to fine songs. Unlike the more eclectic Presidents of the United States of America (whose two-string bassist learned the trick from one-time band mate Sandman), Morphine keep their guard up, cruising one groove with single-minded dedication.

Still, it's a hell of a groove. Even before Sandman opens his mouth on the title tune's oblique sea story, the sultry press of his bass, Dana Colley's horn and Billy Conway's spare drumming conjure up an ominous aura of seedy despair. "Wishing Well," which shifts powerfully from a low, jazzy verse to a ripsnorting chorus, shows off the band's dynamic control, but too many songs swagger in place, pumping a single line or riff with static electricity. In "I Know You (Part III)," the album's grabbiest paean to paranoia, Sandman vows, "I know everything that you're gonna do." He's not the only one. (RS 758)

IRA ROBBINS