"We didn't want to go out and tour on old music because we haven't been writing," frontman Richard Butler explains. "We want to be a band that's a band, not one that's just touring."

The group -- which also includes Butler's brother Tim on bass and guitarist John Ashton -- has been writing material for the past several months. They might have gotten started sooner, if not...

With thundering tom-toms and meaty riffs providing a fine bed for Richard Butler's vocals, Love Spit Love opens on a high note. On "Seventeen" the singer ladles out typically arm's-length lyrics ("I'm gonna keep the names that I use for myself to myself"), and his new band seems a world away from his previous outfit, the Psychedelic Furs. But the track loses steam under a falsetto rant that sounds...