On this debut's title track, a Neil Young-ish guitar riff builds, and Swedish-British expat Petter Ericson Stakee seems to compare depression-fueled partying with fighting a war. (For real?) But the true message comes from his gut, when he stretches the word "time" into an awesome swarm of guitar noise, crashing drums and spiraling bass lines. And so it goes on a magnificently crunchy rock record with real vocal drama from Stakee, who sounds by turns like Liam Gallagher, Thom Yorke and that high-pitched dude from Sigur Rós. If Alberta Cross can conjure more meaning to match their sonic feeling, they may be unstoppable.

“Let My Love Open the Door”

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."