The Rock*A*Teens' sixth studio album, 2018's Sixth House, arrives nearly two decades after 2000's Sweet Bird of Youth, with a breakup and a pair of short reunion tours separating the two LPs. Given that long layoff, no one should be surprised that this band sounds a bit different as they give things another go, sounding older and, if not necessarily wiser, at least a bit more cautious. Where the Rock*A*Teens sounded impressively chaotic and mildly deranged on their 1999 high-water mark Golden Time, Sixth House is tighter, ...
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The Rock*A*Teens' sixth studio album, 2018's Sixth House, arrives nearly two decades after 2000's Sweet Bird of Youth, with a breakup and a pair of short reunion tours separating the two LPs. Given that long layoff, no one should be surprised that this band sounds a bit different as they give things another go, sounding older and, if not necessarily wiser, at least a bit more cautious. Where the Rock*A*Teens sounded impressively chaotic and mildly deranged on their 1999 high-water mark Golden Time, Sixth House is tighter, more focused, and seems less likely to veer off the rails at any given moment. Some bands chase the sound of their younger selves when they reunite, but wisely, the Rock*A*Teens aren't struggling to do that. Instead, they've sought to conjure the intensity of their salad days rather than the particulars of the attack, and this strategy serves them well. Sixth House is less manic than the Rock*A*Teens of yore, but this music still generates the vague but uncomfortable feeling that something could leap out and grab you by the face at any moment, largely thanks to the refined bellow of frontman Chris Lopez and the echoey guitar figures of Justin Hughes. The determined lope of bassist William Joiner and drummer Ballard Lesemann hits the crucial balance between strength and wobble, adding to the menace and grim determination of this music, and on tunes like "Crystal Skies," "Lady Macbeth," and "Listen, Sonny Boy" (the latter perhaps a kiss-off to their own younger selves), the Rock*A*Teens create something that may not be a perfect approximation of what they created in the '90s, but it's truly satisfying in remarkably similar ways. In short, this band is still crazy after all these years, and on Sixth House, they make their special madness signify, and it's a genuine achievement. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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