Toadies: Hell Below/Stars Above : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The high-pitched shriek that jumpstarts the opening tune on the Toadies' long-awaited sophomore effort, Hell Below/Stars Above, at first seems indicative that the album will follow the frenetic footsteps of the quartet's 1994 breakthrough Rubberneck. Instrumentally, this might be the case, being that the erratic surges of hard-driving riffs and strenuous vocals are again intact. However, the murky, psychotic lyrics that potently empowered its predecessor's featured songs (like "Possum Kingdom") are absent. The band's deranged fantasies of abduction and masochism have virtually morphed into introspective verses that straddle the line between remorse and defiance. Other curveballs are thrown, both lyrically and musically, such as on the title track, where they forth with an all-out assault before abruptly pulling back and closing out the song on a spiritual note -- with gospel singers. (PAT CHARLES)