Inzombia

Inzombia takes Slant 6's trademark style -- fierce guitar work somewhere between new wave bubblepunk and the lighter side of D.C. hardcore -- and gives it a chance to work as an album (Soda Pop Rip Off, the band's other full release, is more of a collection of separate recordings). Given this, and the album's horror B-movie theme, it ends up with far more texture and depth than the band's more single-oriented work, and this is definitely a good thing for them. The song-oriented rockers are still there ("Partner in Crime," "Babydoll"), but they're set into place by tracks like the goofy "Retro Duck," the surfy "Instrumental,") and the sparse "Click-Click," making the album better as a total listening experience. The trade-off is that there isn't as much material there as on Soda Pop Rip Off. It's also interesting to hear their sound -- Christina Billote's all-downstroke guitar and sly vocals -- as prefiguring that of bands like Sleater-Kinney, who created such a buzz a few years later.