War Dream, the second album from Baltimore's Crazy Dreams Band, is saturated with heaviness, psychedelia, pomp and grit, and noticeably lacking any nostalgia hang-ups. This rock music is refractory and satisfyingly off; put on a slide, manipulated and projected on a screen, or felt through a chain-link fence. Lost love, genocide and forgotten histories collide with raw-dog vocal thundering, slippe ry bass frequencies, adventurous percussion and seductive guitar ripples. Opener "Feels So Good" is a swirling dirge that could be a half-figured-out version of "Carouselambra"; "Awkward for Everyone" showcases recent addition Jorge Martins of Lisbon duo Fish & Sheep playing what sounds like a deflating blow-up Les Paul copy that actually has strings--you've got to hear the killer solo! The side-long "Life Is the Knife" is like a secret ritual from an unreleased Billy Jack sequel where he went back to Vietnam and built a temple that bled the purest opium. Here, Jake Freeman's adventurous sub-frequencies and Nick Becker's saucy space wanderings shine on to break the dawn in half. War Dream was recorded in three days at Beat Babies in Woodstock, MD, by Chris Freeland (OXES, Frenemies, Long Live Death, Baltimore Rowdies Collective) with heaping platefuls of assistance from his brother Mickey (Bow 'n' Arrow, Height with Friends) and a cat that looked like a dirty snowman.

Grooves that confuse? Crazy Dreams Band presents its guitar-free "thug pop" dirge with creeping crooning and brassless horn blasts. Like the best Giallo films, you'll be as turned on as you are terrified. As tender as Coco Rosie, as brutal as Magik Markers, and as cool as Royal Trux' Radio/Video vibe. Imagine if Bruce Springsteen and Martin Rev collaborated on songs for Patti Smith or Catherine Ribeiro. Channeled inner voices are expelled as cave anthems into neon text in Linear A, while bones poke through the skin atop a witch's brew of venomous sludge.   Crazy Dreams Band is the urban tribal music that survives whatever "end is nigh" theory you choose. They're jamming this music outside the thunder dome, beneath the planet of the apes, and the day after tomorrow.  Members of Religious Knives, Lexie Mountain, Mouthus.