Come on in -- the Water's ... boiling.

Like the psyche of Mike Scott's appears to be doing on his latest release under The Waterboys moniker, A Rock In The Weary Land -- an album that hates the world hard.

From the abrasive guitar opening of the menacing kick-off track Let It Happen, to the hopeless surrender of Send The Rain (a two-minute song where Scott repeats the lines "It's all gone/So send the rain") and to the Primal Scream of the closing song Crown, this latest release is a clenched fist compared to Scott's previous light Celtic caresses.

Even the vocal work, for much of the album, is fed through distortion that seems to tack on extra pain and rage.

Lyrically, the darkness continues. "I say this little boy is angry/I say this little boy is mad/This little boy comes to destroy, stone-eyed, hard-faced, in swathes of vengeance clad" Scott spits on Malediction, a song that would fit well on any Nick Cave record.

It's all a rather abrupt turn for the Edinburgh musician -- whose last two solo records were much more in the folk vein -- and one that takes some getting used to.

But once you do, once you dive right in and look below the surface, you'll be rewarded in full.

Scott's vicious passion and howling at the whole of the moon are worth the bloody cuts and bruises you'll incur.

Track Listing 1. Let It Happen Scott 6:20
  2.My Love Is My Rock In The Weary Land Scott 8:16
  3.It's All Gone Scott 2:15
  4.Is She Conscious? Scott 4:41
  5.We Are Jonah Scott 5:08
  6.Malediction Scott 4:16
  7.Dumbing Down The World Scott 3:06
  8.His Word Is Not His Bond Scott 3:59
  9.Night Falls On London Scott 0:48
  10.Charlatan's Lament Scott 6:52
  11.Wind In The Wires Scott 5:33
  12.Crown Scott 7:04