Van Halen

Van Halen never sounded meaner than on this 1981 release, perhaps because they all hated each other by the time they recorded it (so the story goes). "Mean Streets" and "Unchained" are as close to heavy metal as the group ever came, and Eddie goes bananas at every opportunity, piling screeching effects on top of his already unearthly playing.

Pretty impressive show-off stuff--not just Eddie's latest sound effects, but a few good jokes along with the mean ones and a rhythm section that can handle punk speed emotionally and technically. At times Eddie could even be said to play an expressive--lyrical?--role. Of course, what he's expressing is hard to say. Technocracy putting a patina on cynicism, a critic might say. (Grade - B-)