Pitchfork

It's no big secret that the Reverend has been losing steam since making the jump from the indie hipster label Sub Pop to corporate hipster label Interscope. And it's been a long, hard fall from 1993's classic The Full Custom Gospel Sounds. Sure, Liquor in the Front has its classics; even It's Martini Time has a couple of good songs. But not Space Heater.

Taking their hicksville, white trash image and throwing it right in the garbage can, Space Heater is a full-on rock and roll record, and it comes (very) packaged, complete with a 1950s It Came from Outer Space sci-fi/horror theme. Sound kind of awesome? I was hoping it'd be a return to form, but... no such luck. Instead, you'll get 16 tracks of hopped-up, heavy alternative jockrock, like a cross-breeding experiment between Man or Astroman and Metallica.

You may crack a smile at the lyrics to tunes like "Jimbo Song" and "Baby, I'm Drunk," but Space Heater sadly proves itself to be musically worthless. It's not something you want to go around spending money on.