I don't know exactly what it is that makes The Galactic Cowboys and King's X such great artists. Maybe it's the emphasis on singing and vocal harmonies... Maybe it's that loud, thick, distorted low end played with either and 8-string or 12-string bass guitar... I think these artists are playing with incredible feeling and are expressing their own personalities well, but some credit probably needs to be given to producer Sam Taylor, who, like a good coach, probably helped pull the best from each individual artist in the songwriting and performance. This being the first album from the Wilde Silas Musicwork collection that wasn't recorded at Rampart Studios in Houston, Texas (it was recorded in Rivendell), I was curious to see if maybe the "magic" was in the studio. Upon first listen, I thought my hunch might have been correct. This album doesn't have all the lush, airy production that the first Galactic Cowboys album did. It sounds drier and sometimes uncharacteristic of the sound we heard on the first album. For example, the drum intro to the trippy "About Mrs. Leslie" sounds as straight-ahead as any ole rock number you may hear anywhere on the radio. After listening the album a good while, though, the greatness of the songwriting makes a permanent dent on your skull. "I Do What I Do" could be a song these four guys could be proud to receive mainstream airplay with. It starts off with a crunch as heavy as a jackhammer, then swirls into some very, very melodic harmonies (The DeFranco Family sings with Metallica as a backing band?!?) and some great guitar strumming. The staccato rhythm and crunch spice up the song nicely. This song could do a lot more for the credibility of metal music. The chorus is downright addictive, so the song could really stick to radio. "No Problems" is the next standout cut with a memorable hook. It's a face-paced tune about seeing "real suffering" and not complaining about our own petty "problems" here in surburbia, U.S.A. "Circles In The Fields" and "If I Were A Killer" continue in the powerful vein of "Kaptain Krude" and "Killing Floor." "Circles" starts and ends with a lawnmower engine going, which adds a funny poke in the ribs to the song's question of "Where did these circles come from?" "Killer," which looks like will be the band's first video for the album, takes the simple point of view of a murderer. It reminds this reviewer of how society considers abortion okay. "It centers around relativism," says vocalist and songwriter Ben Huggins in a DGC press release accompanying the advance cassette, "that people can change reality to whatever they want it to be, if it's convenient for them. It's about how, in our society, you can change things upon a whim--whatever the popular opinion is at the time is what's cool and what's right or what is true." One of the things I gleaned from hearing this song is how "doctors" performing abortions can "hide behind a doctor's door" and "scrape you off my office floor" and how the "Supreme Court would agree to hear my case and find me innocent of crime. I'd say I do it for the poor, you'd bring me victims more and more." Pretty heavy stuff, both musically and lyrically. "Blind" is a killer hypnotic-like ballad sort of tune that laments a situation where someone is let down by another person who puts on a front, deceiving others and "lacking true repentance." The feel of the song is captivating, with an incessant beat that is subtle yet powerful. The last song on the tape (the CD has two bonus cuts, so if you haven't bought a CD player yet, this is as good an excuse as they come), "Where Are You Now," has the kind of monster crunch that made Metallica so immensely popular. Of course, a singable melody accompanies this riff. The song chronicles someone wondering what's happening with an old school buddy, like "My School" from the first record, and has a humorous phone conversation between bassist Monty Colvin telling his old friend Sylvia that his band is not a Country & Western band as she hangs up on him. The first bonus cut is "Ranch on Mars," a reprise of which was on the first album. The second bonus cut is "Still Life Of Peace," which doesn't sound like its name. It's got a killer tribal percussion, wilde sitar sound and tripled cello parts under swirling harmonies for each verse--no lead vocals here--it's all four-part harmony. It's the most Beatles-esque cut on the album, except The Beatles wouldn't throw in the full throttle jam near the end. For metal fans, this should be the definitive album of the year, with all others having to match up to this power and mega-crunch. Even compared with the band's near perfect debut album, this release still qualifies as a great piece of art metal. It will be required listening for all future space travel, so get used to it now.