On Come On Like The Fast Lane, recorded in Phillip Glass's Looking Glass Studios, the Silos put their power-trio to the test. The band employs layered guitars to add depth and transcendence to the album's introspective tracks, switching to ferocious, hook-laden rock to part the clouds and land back on terra firma. It's this ability to draw on an inexhaustible well of emotions with turn-on-a-dime transitions that sets The Silos apart; naked honesty and joyous melodies never sounded so good together.

Come On Like The Fast Lane buzzes with rock energy reminiscent of the proto-punk lower East Side legends like The Velvet Underground and Television, punched up with pop melodies that resuscitates a sound that never went out of style.

The title of the Silos' Come on Like the Fast Lane makes it clear that the band knows exactly where their music is best heard, and opening number "Behind Me Now" proves to be a perfect gritty soundtrack for a road trip through the Nevada sand dunes heading straight to Vegas. 20 years and 10 CDs into the band's career, frontman Walter Salas-Humera is as raw and raucous as ever; in a time when all-too-perfect slick melodies dominate the charts, the sound of his tequila-tarnished vocals remain a welcome libation to thirsty ears. "Keeping Score" is a great showcase of the three-piece's ability to lay down a wonderfully foreboding melody, with layers of guitar solos squealing around Salas' desperate vocals. "Top of the World" serves as a reminder of how grunge music was heavily influenced by the alt-country sounds of the 'dirty south' in the '70s and '80s--the track easily confused with the sounds of early Nirvana B-sides. In the Black-Crows-meets-early-Stones vein, disc closers "Out of Our Way" and "Kickass" bring the Silos strongest qualities front and center, a compelling combination of minimal instrumentation and maximum sass. While some may accuse the group of staying in some kind of musical time warp, why should they change their formula when their dirty, gritty alt- country/rock style flows through the ears so uniquely and powerfully? --Denise Sheppard