Brett Netson, guitarist and vocalist for Caustic Resin, is not a happy boy. And with good reason: The Medicine Is All Gone. It's the fourth release courtesy from this trio, who hail from from Idaho potato country, (or "potatoe" country, if your name is Dan Quayle and you're the former Vice President of the United States).

'70s glam rock a la Bowie and T.Rex is mixed with a punk sensibility in Caustic Resin's neo- psychedelic blender. The lyrics are mostly of the gloom- and- doom variety, teeming with every quality a healthy emotional balance should be without. On "Salamander," Metson howls in a despair- ridden wail, the kind of noise only a man on the brink of breaking out his firearm collection and raising hell at post offices can generate. The eerie "Station" is sung entirely a capella, a stark contrast even to the album's lighter fare. But "Once and Only" is Medicine's smoothest number, moving along in a steady- paced, guitar- driven flow-- one of few glimpses at the band playing up to its potential and doing so with its members in complete synch. The band's swirlingly- extravagant (and of course, caustic) arrangements are downright brutal, at times overpowering Metson and forcing him to shout above them for audibility's sake.

While Caustic Resin demonstrate considerable skill in creating complex slices of psychedelia splashed with angst, they seem torn between this and the more simplistic, lighthearted pop sound of, say, "Man From Michigan." They're a band with potential, but ultimately, one in need of direction.

-Susan Moll