Smoking Screen Artful metal you can Antitrust BY SAM PFEIFLE

By now, the subsets of metal are so numerous that it’s hard to keep track of them all: death metal, pop metal, hardcore, grindcore, thrash, math metal, prog metal, art metal, and, of course, just plain old heavy metal. Where the distinctions lie is mostly unimportant. It’s the variety that’s worth noting, since your casual music fan is probably only acquainted with the pop metal (Motley Crue, Cinderella, Quiet Riot) and maybe the prog metal (Rush and Yes, mostly) of the last 20 years. The heavy metal of Iron Maiden, Megadeth, and early Metallica is largely forgotten, as are metal’s roots.

If a Led Zeppelin record came out tomorrow, would anyone even call it metal? In contemporary radio parlance, everything "alternative" is pretty damn heavy, with tastes evolving to the point where we have "adult alternative" as one of the fastest-growing formats, for folks who can’t stand Britney Spears, but threw out their black T-shirts five years ago.

Most of this new heavy music is really just heavy rock, though. Much of what made metal "metal" isn’t there anymore. The super-fast guitar solos, the high-pitched soaring lead vocals, and the fantastical lyrics have largely disappeared from the scene, replaced by heavily distorted crashing guitars, yelled and grunted singing, and self-involved lyrics of despair.

That’s all fine, but it’s still comforting to find an old-school metal standard-bearer like Portsmouth’s the Screen (no big hair, though, don’t worry). All the aforementioned components come in heavy doses on their new album, Antitrust. Lead singer and main songwriter Rob Z (that’s all he goes by) has some serious pipes, clear and always very forward in the mix. It’s not quite the high Geddy Lee delivery girlfriends have always hated so much ("he sounds like a girl!"), but he’s certainly a tenor or above on most songs. Would he register on the cheese scale for some people? Probably, but that’s part and parcel with metal, and he shouldn’t register overly high. He’s just kind of anthemic all the time, savoring the words in his mouth and finding they taste pretty good.

Rob supplies the fantastical lyrics, too. In "The Agent," he imagines a world where "I match my wits against the silence of my captors/ I force my will to fit the barrel of a gun," and we get a spoken-word piece from 1984. The song opens with the intelligent metal of Mr. Bungle, featuring quick, tight change ups. For the opening, Rob echoes his vocals, before delivering a more throaty Living Colour verse.

Often, though, Rob’s lyrics are more in line with the modern-day self loathing theme. "I’ve been living just to hate my life/ I’ve been fucking just to taste your blood," he notes in "Divide." Though the end of the chorus here is one of more than a few moments on the album where you can’t help but take notice. When he sings "Are you looking for forgiveness or are those just stones in your eyes?" his tone of contempt is palpable.

Later in the tune we get the requisite guitar solo, but in a different tone than a lot of the other work here. Lead guitarist Bob Beal can play, no doubt, ripping out the 32nd notes like nobody’s business. On the more singer/songwritery-constructed "Swing," Beal fills a dreamy sequence with a powerhouse solo that would be impressive anyway, but backed as it is by an active bass and drums that do more than just get out of the way, Beal’s able to communicate better with the rest of the song, rather than just playing on a musical island. Counterbalancing the solo with plenty of other things to pay attention to leaves it less showy and more part of the whole.

Bassist Erik Ralston is a standout throughout the album, working in concert with the equally talented Jarrett Osborn. The one thing you can’t take from this band is their musicianship. They’re all classically trained and it shows in just about everything they do. Notes aren’t wasted. Every song seems very tactical and orchestral in its composition. Take note of the nice isolated bass work at the 2:30 mark of "Resolve" that they then build the rest of the song off of. Don’t miss the cool opening to "Fiction," with a great guitar hook high up the fretboard, matched by Rob Z’s voice expertly. Listen for the poignant feedbacking isolated guitar note in "Divide."

Dream Theater would be proud.

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at sam@phx.com

The Screen play the Brickhouse, in Dover, NH, on Saturday, June 11. Call (603) 749-3838.