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To a former scientist like myself, a band called Mold Colony, with a CD titled The Experiment is Out of Control, was like a siren song. I’m glad I followed it’s alluring call and picked it up, because this CD is one that manages to satisfy on a variety of levels. I knew I’d grabbed a winner right from the opening line, when vocalist Ben Denslow gets right up in your face and demands to know, “Why do you treat me like a SPACE MONKEY?” Set to a funky soundtrack, the opening cut explores a relationship where the guy can’t help but feeling like a put upon ape, and that’s just the beginning of a delightful journey.

The music on This Experiment is Out of Control travels through a variety of generally classic rock realms, with bands like Rush coming to mind on occasion, a tinge of AC/DC here and there in Kel’s guitar work, and even an instance where the thought, “hey, they sounds like a less-strung-out-on-caffeine Faith No More,” came to mind.

Styx probably came to mind most as a comparison. It probably had to do a little bit with the song entitled Paradise Grill, recalling Styx’s Paradise Theater. On occasion, and the fact that on a few songs, Denslow sounds a lot like vintage Dennis DeYoung. One such instance occurs on Pirate’s Blood, one of my favorite tracks on the album. The band really allows its inner Rush out to play on this track, with bassist Pete Nielsen cutting loose, and the rest of the band laying down a track recalling that band’s 70s-era work, minus the helium vocals, of course. Complete with shipboard battle noises, and lines like, “When there’s booty for the taking, we’ll run every buzzard through,” it’s good for a few smiles.

Another highlight comes in the form of the instrumental Duggan’s Dew, which showcases a band that can really play, and could probably succeed even without the humorous lyrics. An attitude laden progressive rock/blues-tinged number, the track is a revelation in a CD already full of surprises.

That said, the best track on the disc is saved for near the end of the disc, when the band lives up to its cover image, dons the hazard suits, and goes to work. When Mold Colony doubles as a song title, and it opens with the lyrics, “I opened up my refrigerator,” you can probably imagine what goes on thereafter. Try enticing images like, “The cheese awaits a funeral in its new green mohair suit,” or, “and the TV dinner remnants had a brand new blue disguise.” Not wanting to leave their listeners in suspense, they state the obvious, in a droll chorus line, “It’s a Mold Colony – looks like someone called the fuzz.”

It’s a horrible pun, awfully cheesy if you will, but if you’re still listening by that point of the disc, you’ve long been won over by the catchy vibes and the unabashedly nerdy witticism these guys bring to their album. If you’re ever in the mood for science-friendly humor set to classic rock informed both by the bands stated above, as well as the likes of Weird Al Yankovic, you could do a lot worse than, The Experiment is Out of Control.