Based on this record's packaging – which features a motley crew of psycho clowns, slutty nurses and some dude wearing a strapped-on bass drum – perhaps Likehell's sound shouldn't be so jarring. To the band's credit, though, it is.

This is fast, polished hard rock of the Queens of the Stone Age variety and it's occasionally glorious. "Famous Orgies" wouldn't work half as well if Likehell didn't throw themselves whole hog into the project, which basically consists of hard rock poses struck with tongues frequently in cheek.

What doesn't work on this record are the slower tracks that disrupt the flow, namely the plodding "Fly Me Away." Momentum builds steadily to this point and this track – the seventh out of 11 – almost fatally kills the record's buzz.

Thank God, then, for "Love 101," which shows up one track before the end. It's catchy, rhymes "kiss" with "miss" and features that mighty gauntlet of rock, the cowbell. It leads seamlessly into "Lonely By Design," a march-like slice of drama that has lead singer Nick Eldorado intoning, "Wish for something long enough/and it might come true."

Like their music, Likehell's lyrics are alternately Spinal Tap-esque – "I don't know, I've been told/burgers always get cold," Eldorado sings in "Chili Dog" – and almost sentimental.

This split personality disorder, however, is just part of the fun. Like fellow sometimes-ironists The Darkness, it doesn't really matter whether or not Likehell is "serious" – these songs are fantastically "rock 'n' roll" in the old-fashioned sense: This record will make you smile and give you a headache. DB

www.likehell.net