Pitchfork

For all their talk of harmelodic theory and album-length genre explorations, the fact remains that Royal Trux, at their best, are a straightforward rock band. The early junky-noise experiments that reached their nadir with Twin Infinitives (an intriguing but ultimately worthless record with all the utility of an electric fork) are disappearing; Jennifer Herrema and Neil Hagerty now want nothing more than to sound like Rocks-era Aerosmith meets the Isley Brothers. And they're good at it, which is a lot more than you can say for Lenny Kravitz.

And so it is with Veterans of Disorder, a characteristically uneven record sprinkled with moments of conventional pop brilliance. Tunes like "Stop" and "The Exception" are so deeply rooted in rock/soul tradition one could almost label Hagerty and Herrema retro revivalists. From the boxy production that calls to mind mid-60s Stax recordings to the tinkly piano riffs stolen from the cradle of newborn 50s rock 'n' roll, this is a sound that happily pilfers from the most traditional of sources.

Hagerty's tortured crooning on "Stop", which breaks into a cracked falsetto during the chorus, is a dead ringer for a British Invasion-era rocker's take on the phrasing of Sam Cooke. Of course, this rearrangement of time-honored elements wouldn't mean a thing without top-notch songs, and again Royal Trux delivers. In addition to the surefire R&B hooks in the aforementioned tracks, "Yo Se!" offers a rousing, inanely catchy vocal refrain that deserves to be pumped over the sound system at Yankee stadium between innings.

These three songwriting nuggets are the cream or the crop on Veterans of Disorder, but there are a few nearly great songs to keep people interested. "Waterpark" and "Second Skin" have fine riffs and strong melodies, but both are unfortunately marred by Herrema's increasingly grating singing. It's time for Herrema to realize that her faux-toughgirl vocals grow a little less convincing with each RTX record-- she needs to find a way to achieve a more natural sound with her voice. "Witches Tit", with its "Going to California" Zeppelin feel, allows her to show a more pleasing and restrained vocal personality.

There are a few throwaways (namely "Lunch Money" and "Coming Out Party"), as well as two pointless tracks that seem tacked on to maintain the band's avant-garde identity ("Sickazz Dog" and "Blue is the Frequency") but Veterans of Disorder finds the two not-so-young lovers once again making solid rock music that fits very neatly into the tradition.