SHORT TAKES

- Al Muzer

REVIEW: Geezer, Black Science (TVT)

Former Black Sabbath bassist/lyricist Geezer Butler's second solo offering jettisons Fear Factory throat Burton C. Bell for complete unknown Clark Brown - and pays for that folly more than once on these 13 dated-sounding Butler/Pedro (guitar) Howse compositions.

Taking their musical cues from artists as diverse as Nine Inch Nails, Suicidal Tendencies, Alice In Chains, The Police, Marilyn Manson, Metallica, White Zombie, Robert Palmer and Prodigy; Geezer and the crew rip out a few bitchin' riffs (especially on "Justified" and "Xodiak") and try their damnedest to rise above the sludge - Brown's limited chops and weak attack, however, routinely drag the proceedings down to a Ronnie James Dio-fronts-Scorpions level.

REVIEW: Verbow, Chronicles (Epic)

Featuring captivating, big-boned potential rock anthems with giant hooks, bright harmonies, fully-realized melodies, radio-friendly choruses, real heart and not less than five possible hits; this Bob Mould-produced Chicago four-piece pits the brilliantly-melodic, Badfinger-fueled songwriting and mellow-ternative vocals of punk-schooled guitarist Jason Narducy against slinky blasts of gentle sawing, static noize and classical-instrument-as-machine-gun sprawl sprayed into the mix by cellist Alison Chesley.

REVIEW: Agnes Gooch, Blind (Revolution)

Featuring a drummer that lays claim to Joyce (Three's Company) DeWitt for a stepmother and a sound that brings to mind Cheap Trick as swaggering late-'60s West Coast rockers heavily influenced by the walls of sound explored by Kitchens Of Distinction, the Cobain legacy and the first Radiohead record - Gooch vocalist Mat Baker recalls a young Glenn Tilbrook playing off a real sense of anger and urgency while guitarist Nathan Ehrenfeld lays down a six-string assault worthy of the heaviest of metals that bubbles with a subtle pulse and sonic goo all its own.