Sparta: Wiretap Scars : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

f The end came suddenly for at the Drive-In, a band of south-Texas indie rockers whose melodic rage and MC5 Afros fell into early retirement shortly after MTV embraced 2000's frantic "One Armed Scissor." Sparta are the first band to emerge from those ashes, but the formula this time is less about massive decibels than about a wide range of slippery post-punk sounds. "Cut Your Ribbon" comes closest to the desperate noise of ATDI, with guitarist turned singer Jim Ward nailing a fine, furious scream. The album soon veers into emo-ish hand-wringing on "Air" and the pop-gothic "Cataract," which sounds enough like the Cure to be a cover tune. Nicely done, but what Sparta gain in subtlety they lose in sheer force. Still, Ward's weakness for emotional abstraction helps keep things on edge, with the song titles "Echodyne Harmonic" and "Sans Cosm" suggesting dementia worthy of Burroughs. And when Ward earnestly wails, "This time I'll get it right!" he sounds like he means it.

STEVE APPLEFORD
(RS 905 - Sept. 19, 2002)