If ever there was a modest “truth in advertising” title in the music business (excusing all of the oxymoronic combinations, of course, as “truth” is never usually uttered in the biz), then The Step Kings’ debut deserves its boxing-pronouncement banner. These New Jersey pop aggros kick out some massive-sounding jams for just three humble buds on a sonic bender. With a churning Sevendust-styled slam, the kickoff track “Friends” squashes everything in its path with searing, three-dimensional feedback, clenched-fist riffage, and the thickest kickdrum slap to ever puncture the stratosphere. Between the band’s unaffected performances and Machine’s mammoth production, the music literally peels out of the speakers.

But while our heroes are deft at dishing out the brutality, the Kings also know where to polish certain elements for that extra toxic edge. Like the high-end, floating harmonies that eventually descend like a vulture for the blindsided attack during “Vibe.” Or the subtle, dub-like echo that pops up in “One And One,” eventually dropping out for its stark, sharp chorus. And while a few tunes lapse into older formulas- “Independence Day” is a textbook-tho-tired SoCal romp, while their take of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall” is clever only on the first hearing (although guitarist Fern does a credible David Gilmour imitation)- this disc does display a bit of brains behind all of the brawny scrawl. Waiting to be discovered.