Although it's being hyped as a back-to-basics Violent Femmes album, Freak Magnet (in stores Tuesday) has little in common with the trio's excellent early work. Their classic 1983 debut and its sadly overlooked 1984 followup Hallowed Ground offered bluesy, backwoods Americana via the Velvet Underground and Baptist spirituals. By comparison, Freak Magnet -- the group's first new studio album in six years -- is a much punkier effort, consisting mainly of slight, made-for-moshing ditties that may be energetic, but frankly don't hold a candle to the exquisite songcraft of Good Feeling or I Know It's True. If the Femmes' songwriting isn't what it used to be, at least longtime fans can take solace in the fact the performances remain taut, the melodies snappy and the lyrics creepy. Singing about incest in one song and following the example of Jesus the next, frontman Gordon Gano still comes across as a disturbed preacher's kid taunted by his own bad thoughts and a prolonged state of adolescent angst.

Track Listing 1. Hollywood Is High
2. Freak Magnet
3. Sleepwalkin'
4. All I Want
5. New Generation
6. In The Dark
7. Rejoice And Be Happy
8. Mosh Pit
9. Forbidden
10. When You Died
11. At Your Feet
12. I Danced
13. I'm Bad
14. Happiness Is
15. Story, A - (featuring Pierre Henry)