Deathray

Deathray has traveled down a different musical path since its sparkling major-label debut in 2000 and now veers much more toward the indie side of things than the pop. The music on this CD is still rooted in pop, but it’s tinged with odd sounds and is slightly more difficult to latch on to than the old catchy stuff. The only slight disappointment here is “Nothing Left to Kill,” mainly because it rocks more when played live, without the studio-added keyboard. It’s still good, but I missed the more stripped-down version. But as long as a band has the super-tight rhythm section of Victor Damiani on bass and Todd Roper on drums, along with the unique guitar lines of Greg Brown and inventive lyrics of Dana Gumbiner, it has something worth listening to. Believe me.