Like nearly every other rock band, Stabbing Westward have written loads of songs about shattered romance. But on Darkest Days, the band devotes an entire album to unraveling a bleak, conceptual tale of self-loathing, self-abuse and, eventually, self-destruction. Beginning with the title track, which documents the initial breakup, and climaxing with the suicidal cries of "When I'm Dead," Stabbing Westward rant, writhe and wallow, following the lyrical plot of a dissolving relationship like a good film score.

Compared with the group's past two albums, on which it sounded like a less-motivated Nine Inch Nails, Darkest Days desperately screams to be heard. Sonically, the group displays real progress, mixing industrial-metal clamor with stark tribal beats, ominously tangled guitar lines and dynamic arrangements. New influences also come into play: On "Drugstore" the band uses clarion-call samples and skittering beats reminiscent of Prodigy, and on "Drowning" the drifting, sprawling melodies recall Pink Floyd.

Occasionally, as on "Haunting Me" and "The Thing I Hate," Stabbing Westward resort to the kind of mawkish choruses that impaired their earlier efforts. But for the most part, Darkest Days proves that in the right claws, good lovin' gone bad can still be as thematically powerful as ever. (RS 786)

JON WIEDERHORN