Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Some record labels have identities. You don't pick up something on Real World, for example, and expect it to be kill-your-parents death metal, or purchase something on Death Row for that impressionable six-year old niece thinking that it's gonna be in the vein of Jim Brickman. So, too, with Epitaph. You can expect, volume, three chords and a cloud of dust, and in-your-face vocals. No surprises.

And yep, that's just what you get with 98 Mute. As Sam Butera likes to say in concert by way of introduction, "We don't play none a' dat new shit." Nope, nothing fancy here, no outer space noises, no new age chanteuses, just hard, confrontational, in your face punk, the way Iggy and the New York Dolls used to do it. And well done, I might add.

There is an adage in punk and thrash that part of the appeal is that anyone can do it. A corollary to that, however, is that just because anyone can do it doesn't mean that everybody should. 98 Mute is one of those groups that should. If you want to call 98 Mute thinking man's punk, you wouldn't be off at all. AFTER THE FALL, their fourth CD (second on Epitaph), finds the band stretching creatively without deserting their chosen punk genre. Producer (and Pennywise guitarist) Fletcher Dragge remains an unobtrusive presence, never getting in the way but kicking the "hi" in "hi-fi" up a bit. The historical reference is The Stooges, circa RAW POWER, with echoes of "Search and Destroy" pingponging in the background. Power chords come at you at 180 miles an hour; vocals are snarled and spit at you, but the whole effect is strangely...melodic. A standout track is "Small Minds," evocative of The Stooges "Gimme Danger" while sounding not a bit like it, with vocals shouted more than song while acoustic and electric guitars duel for control in the background. Call it a draw.

Just like you'll never have too many Ramones' CDs in your collection until you've got 'em all, you can't have too many Epitaph CDs. Even if you don't want AFTER THE FALL, you need it, especially at 2:00 a.m. when you're driving all alone and doing 80 m.p.h. on the freeway with the 360 air going.