What do you say about a punk rock band that cops everything from Led Zeppelin to the Beasties, has a song titled, "Metal Forever Parts I & II," and garners high praise from Henry Rollins? That's the conundrum that you'd face at this very moment were you in my shoes, which is precisely why Pitchfork subjects its 'Listening Engineers' to literally thousands of hours of intensive training every year.

The simple answer here is that they rock. But as we all know-- and those of you who know better than the others may sing along, if you wish-- there are no simple answers in life. While Squatweiler does indeed rock when they kick it on barnburners like the album's opener, "John Henry," (and later on "Crossing Guard" and "Bellissime,") the North Carolina trio too often lets up on the gas of Horsepower, its fourth album for Spinart. To the band's credit, the album represents a truly eclectic vision of punk rock-– one which catches them red- handed with a grab bag of stolen riffs, all drown in a smothering of distortion. Squatweiler finds most of its success on the fringes of their vision, a perfect example being "Orgent," which mischievously breaks down from an Archers'- style rocker into an unmistakable "White Lines" riff.

Unfortunately, Squatweiler doesn't spend enough time in that no man's land, instead falling back on trite pop- punk offerings on much of the album. Tracks like "Arturro," "Belle Starr," and "Who Has the Zep" find the trio sounding like a second rate Bikini Kill instead of the next Sleater- Kinney. Should this trio ever put together an album full of Horsepower's brightest moments, it would no doubt be well worth Rollins' words of praise. And all those hours of training.

-Neil Lieberman