COLLIDE TWO HEADED MONSTER ALBUM NOISEPLUS RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 23, 2008 REVIEW: OCTOBER 19, 2008

Careening down the fire escape just ahead of the inferno, out into the street under a torrential winter's downpour. You pause to look back at the flames exploding out your window, looking up and down the lonely lane you'll be calling home. In the midst of all this destruction, in the waves of heat curdling into a thickly acrid lung-choking mixture you hear something, "Two Headed Monster" is what's lulling your reeling senses.

Precision, yes. Craftmanship, absolutely. Collide's fourth album delivers an overwhelming knock-out. You're falling back into it, falling forward still drowning... gasping for breath. If it's addiction you seek, if it's compulsion you want chronicled: here's your homily. With a deftness few possess, Karin and Statik thunder into the pole position of slinky elegance. Believe me, this is no album for the meek. There are no half measures anywhere on this thing. I refer you to the track "Chaotic" and warn that the riffs will consume you before you have time to even notice what's going on.

This is the LA band who exploded years back with their debut, "Beneath the Skin". I make note of this only to illustrate how far they have come since that by-gone year of 1995. A more intrinsically flawless symbiosis of technology and human deviance you won't find this year, this much is certain. This is the rain on flushed skin after an escapade to be mentioned only in hushed tones. With the utmost confidence, Collide return to the world with their new work wrought delicately in the darkest of desires. I swear I can almost hear angels weeping while listening to this.

PETER MARKS