Prior to the release of Precious Blood, Ghosts and Vodka had been most noteworthy for having made the most uninteresting album on John Hughes III's mostly electronic label, Hefty Records. Amongst the post-rock breakbeats of Slicker and the simple sophisticated ambience of Savath + Savalas is Ghosts and Vodka's album of technically complex but emotionally bankrupt instrumental guitar rock. Precious Blood follows in that record's footsteps, retaining both some of the good and bad traits.

Jon Wozencroft, co-owner of England's Touch label has been quoted as saying that the musical expression of angst is uninteresting and a total waste of time. And while it would be unfair and irrelevant to compare any Touch music to Ghosts and Vodka, the statement can be applied as a consistent musical truth, as far as I'm concerned. And Precious Blood is crammed full of emo angst. To be truthful, it's basically sounds like an instrumental Cap'n Jazz. Which makes sense when you consider two of the members did time in Joan of Arc.

With no lyrics, there's no specific receptor to be recognized on Precious Blood. But there is an overriding sentiment of "I will always remember that party last weekend," especially on songs like "It's All About Right Then" and "Futuristic Genitalia." If it weren't for the complicated rhythms and odd changes, many of the songs would fit perfectly in the end credits to films like She's All That or the video for Eve 6's "Here's to the Night."

Complimenting these overbearing teenage feelings is the booklet and artwork, filled with annoying Joan of Arc-isms. Above the thank yous, in large print, a sentence reads "I want to salt your poop and wear it on my face like a beard." This is not funny for anyone younger or older than a seventh grader. The rear artwork contains a drawing portraying a young boy kneeling down with a nudie book in front of a puddle of his own cum. What these guys need is a cut-rate animated series on Comedy Central.

Each song comes with a long-winded, pretentiously "weird" accompanying passage (printed on individual cards in the liner notes) that ruins any value the music might intrinsically have. Titles include "Sex is Popular" and "Good Luck with Your Multiple Personalities." Why not just go all the way with it and name one "Don Caballero Did This First"? It would hold true not only for the song titles, but for the music itself; Precious Blood is the sound of a midwestern emo-pop band that bought What Burns Never Returns and, say, kneeled down with it in front of a puddle of their own cum.

Another of Ghosts and Vodka's poor attributes is that they seem to have no concept of restraint. Throughout the album, there's little respite from thickly layered, interplaying guitar, and few silent or quiet moments. After a while the songs start to sound like midrange noise over bass and drums. The tracks also generally remain at a volume slightly above moderate; too loud to be nice sounding and too quiet to have any impact. The rhythms are complex almost to a fault, sounding like exercise rather than experiment. Let's face it: math-rock's relevance as a genre has long been waning, and more of the same isn't going to raise any expectations.

Despite all of the absolutely unremarkable characteristics of Precious Blood, though, I'd be lying if I said that it was anything short of a listener-friendly and pleasant, if not innocuous listen. Nothing on the record will rub you the wrong way, and there are a few memorable moments present, though they're spread widely apart. On a long drive, when you're too tired to listen to any of your truly fascinating CDs and want something to break the silence, Precious Blood would likely fit the bill as well as anything else. If you're looking for something more, but similar, just go in for Don Cab. These guys obviously have.

-Michael Wartenbe