Critic's Choice

Ever had friends try to tell you how much more clear-thinking and able-bodied they are when they're high? Denver's Under the Drone will convince you of exactly that. The group's precision stoner rock chokes on the smoky grooves of Kyuss and Nirvana's Bleacheven as it sculpts protein-packed riffs with all the pinpoint brutality of Today Is the Day. Shooting ragged bursts of punk-edged rancor, singer/guitarist Ben Gun heaves and thrashes above a veritable bong-load of paranoid noise and liquefying distortion. The quartet put out a bottom-heavy eponymous EP earlier this year and is currently chiseling out its debut full-length, Keep It Shred, set for release in early 2005. Gun and crew will ring in the new year with ringing ears this Friday, December 31, at the Lion's Lair, with Self Service and Prescription. Get off the couch and Under the Drone.