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What we have here is pretty simple: Men with beards. Blistering blues-rock riffs. Songs that refuse to die. On its fourth album, Comets on Fire takes the very foundation of rock 'n' roll (well, from the good years on) reheats it and serves it back up in gargantuan portions. We're talking the eight-minute solo-heavy opening track, which roughly approximates what it would have sounded like if the Stooges ever jumped on stage with the Grateful Dead. Produced just as well, too. Yes, this Santa Cruz quintet that shares member Ben Chasny with Six Organs of Admittance might occasionally qualify for jam-band status, but give them some credit. Phish could never come up with songs as euphorically ugly as "Lucifer's Memory" and "Hatched Upon the Age." --Aidin Vaziri