Soul Asylum
If Soul Asylum is out to make soulful brooding their specialty, they've just about perfected the art on this follow-up to their 1992 multiplatinum breakthrough, Grave Dancer's Union. With his weary, ragged vocals and depressive lyrics, singer Dave Pirner doesn't sound like either a man in love—though he and actress Winona Ryder have been dating for two years—or one finally rolling in royalties. "Frustrated incorporated," he sings over an infectious strummed-up beat on the chorus of "Misery," the album-opening first single, setting the CD's miserable mood. On "To My Own Devices" he revisits the heartbroken Tom Petty tone of Grave Dancer's Top 10 "Runaway Train," while on the wistful "Eyes of a Child" he spins sad tales about a burned-out pill-popping mama with 13 kids and a wayward girl who "was just 6 when she turned her first trick." Pirner's three bandmates mostly play along with these laid-back blues, but when they pep up—as on "Caged Rat," a throbbing slice of manic aggression—pull out your shades. That Dim-Light gets pretty dazzling. (Columbia)
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