Sunburn

03/31/1998 3:00 AM, LAUNCH
Wendy Hermanson

It's becoming more and more difficult nowadays to find hard-edged music that actually rocks--and isn't some thumping, dissonant bad clone of Rage Against The Machine or Korn, the apparent flavor of the metal moment. Those (who would be) about to rock have for the most part had to rely on their old staples of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. However, thankfully, there now does exist a happy medium between classic hard rock and nouveau-riff-rap.

Pennsylvania quartet Fuel's major-label debut, Sunburn, is no-nonsense, straight-up rock, air-guitar-in-the-bedroom kinda stuff. What's surprisingly nice about the record though, is that (rather like Smashing Pumpkins' older material) it is melodic enough to count as "alternative"--with nary a pierced eyebrow raised or a pumping fist lowered. Fuel are much more sensible than the Pumpkins, however; they wisely realize that their well-written songs need very little drama to shine. Single "Shimmer" backs a lovely, orchestral chorus with heavy guitar; "Bittersweet" and "Jesus Or A Gun" rise and dip effortlessly in spite of their dense bulk. Listening to Sunburn is rather like watching Shaquille O'Neal sink a perfect basket--the inherent elegance is both offset and enhanced by the seemingly graceless enormity of its source.