Who the hell is sick as monday?

Fledgling or indie bands take note: if you want to get attention, put out your work with a killer cover. the cover photo of this new sick as monday disc certainly qualifies; moody, sexy yet tasteful, and mysterious, the cover art simply screams "play this disc."

For a virtually undiscovered band, sick as monday's sound melds everything from rock to metal to punk to emo to classic rock to vintage vocal groups to create their own indefinable style and that's a good thing. In a region where a lot of the bands are starting to sound like taking permanent automatica, the sick sound is wholly original and more than a little pleasing to the ear. and, great googa mooga, you can dance to it.

The guitars here shimmer and rock righteously, with paulo xavier and jim gerovac (also lead vocalist) melding their steely sounds into a warm riff stew. "say it's over" sounds like a single from the scandal era, with a thwarted lover's screams bellowing over pure, unbridled rock - more than a little stunning.

The influences mount while sounds totally new and fresh; "otherside" screams from the speakers like late period bto before settling into a bluesy, dreamy tempo, which then shifts gears into more pure rock. rhythm section dave scarsella (bass) and jimi tassone (drums) are like a good boxing referee on this cut; they're scarcely noticeable, but they hold the entire tune in check. in fact, both scarsella and tassone never overplay or resort to rock clichés on the disc, which easily qualifies as sort of a long island benchmark. this is obviously an accomplished and professional rhythm section.

Vocalist gerovac must be the confident sort, and he should be; throughout the disc, the lead vocals are recorded with just the slightest hint of effects such as reverb. his strong, emotive style pushes the band into major league status, and with such strong compositions as "hello" and "confession" to buoy them, the only thing sick about sick as monday will be the trail of broken bands they leave in their wake - they're that good.