These Northwest dark horses follow up their colossal (but criminally overlooked) major-label debut, Fast Stories...From Kid Coma, with a cleaner, more user-friendly version of their jagged, impressionistic psychedelia. Where Fast Stories was thick, heavy-handed, and apocalyptic-sounding, Feeling You Up relies more on guitarist/vocalist Robert Roth's epic arrangements and guitar wizardry. Drummer Mark Pickerel (ex-Screaming Trees) and bassist Hiro Yamamoto (ex-Soundgarden) fill up this trio's enormous sound with a burly and precise bottom-end that supports Roth's bold forays. Feeling You Up in many ways sounds similar to its predecessor--Roth's vocal lines and screams ring familiar and the Doors-meet-Sabbath heaviness pervades some of the material. However, in many ways it finds the band being more adventurous, dabbling in hip-hop-like beats and allowing the beauty and strength of Roth's strong songwriting skills to emerge from behind the haze of distortion and bombast that marked much of Fast Stories. Of the few remaining bands still playing the kind of heavy music that put the Northwest on the map, only Truely remain forward-thinking innovators. --Adem Tepedelen