It seems that whenever I get a new CD, roughly violate its cellophane prison, and release it into the world and thus, into my life, several things can and usually do happen. There are the albums that quickly grab my fancy and sucker-punch me into sheer ecstasy, and then there are albums that after a quick glance leave me cold and wishing I had not wasted the money. These albums are easy to deal with on a very simple level; ya love 'em or ya hate 'em. Then there are the subtleties in life, the twisted things that lie only half in the shadows, visible enough to make us know that they are there and not going away, but hazy and twilight-obscured to keep us craning our necks and squinting our eyes for a closer look. If there ever was an album that fit that long winded description, it would be Box of Hammers by The Brain Surgeons. Lets have a look...............

Box of Hammers is the 3rd CD by The Brain Surgeons. And at just a quick glance it seems like the next step in a natural evolution. It is once again produced by Albert Bouchard and Deb Frost, it once again features cover artwork by Steve Brodner, and after a quick scan through its credits features additional writing by the talents of Helen Wheels and Richard Meltzer and other who have graced previous Surgeons efforts, as well as previous Blue Oyster Cult albums. To the naked eye it seems like more of more of more of the same. But listen......

After sitting and listening to this thing the first time through, aside from some very obvious differences, I knew that this was unlike either of the previous Brain Surgeons albums. Once again it featured the quirky and sometimes oddball experimentation of EPONYMOUS, and on the other side of the coin it had plenty of the "in your face" "drag you through the gravel" raw power that seemed so dominant on the TREPANATION album. It seemed to be an odd juxtaposition of both flavors of Brain Surgeons music.... yet there was STILL something odd about it. I listened again. I listened closer. I listened DEEPER. And in the process of trying to finally nail down what is so unusual about this album, it grabbed me and pulled me in. Unlike TREPANATION, which pulled me in with sheer force and MADE me like it, BOX OF HAMMERS slowly and quietly lured me in to my doom, a subtle note here and a funky lyric there, until I was trapped with no hope of escape. I like it here...........

BoH is a collection of fourteen of the best songs The Brain Surgeons have ever done. Powerful songs like "St. Vitus Dance" and "Date with a Guitar" could fit snugly it the last set of blows delivered to us on TREPANATION, and misfits like the smoothly haunting "End in Tears" with its caressing sax seem to have echoes of EPONYMOUS all over it. With a combination like that the Surgeons are bound to please its fans with this one, yet they went one step further. Songs like "Locked Up" with its whispery Deb Frost vocals could easily get overpowered and plowed under by the facemelting songs that flank it on either side, yet its subtlety is what grabs you and forces you to listen closer. "Donkey Show" features guitarist Peter Bohevesky making his vocal debut and this song just drips with Zappa-esque quirks and strange charm. Another buried gem in this album is the warped wonder "Laura's Plastic Swords", a Bouchard/Meltzer collaboration that plays like a ride through a freak show under hot lights. "Gun", is a driving tune that is rumored to be a song that Blue Oyster Cult had once planned to record and later rejected. The final song on the CD is the fantastic instrumental "Overture", which is just that, an overture, combining all of the elements and music from the IMAGINOS album into a phenomenal tune. It is the "Imaginos Sampler" if you will..............

Yet my favorite song on the album is one that almost slipped by me the first few listens, the hauntingly wonderful "Casa Del Sol" is a solely Frost written tune, and she proves that she can not only cover the spectrum of rock & roll vocal abilities, but also write a damn good tune too. A song that reminds me quite a bit of one of my favorite bands, Nazareth, Casa is one of the best The Brain Surgeons have ever done, period. And so.............

Add all of these ingredients and more too numerous to detail, mix in one part of the razor sharp sting of Bouchard lyrics, one part of the rude awakening slap of Bouchard music, and two parts of the talons on a chalkboard vocals of Deb Frost..... but don't bother shaking it up. Box Of Hammers will do plenty of that on its own. And if you let it get its hooks into you, its gonna shake you up as well. While past Brain Surgeons albums are like a kick in the sternum with steel-toed boots, Box of Hammers will quietly, and subtly pummel your cranium like a brick wrapped in cotton. Happy Hammering...........

Rob "Torgo" Sedler

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