Guitar Wolf: Missile Me

A lot of Japanese bands have found varying degrees of success in America in the last few years, and with wildly varying styles of music: We've heard deconstructionist noise (Boredoms), bubble-gum pop (Shonen Knife), ultra-cool dance music (Pizzicato Five), and much, much more. But there haven't been a whole lot of Japanese imports that just flat-out rock, and Guitar Wolf does a fine job doing just that. Missile Me is 28 corrosive minutes of sludgy, no-polish, roughed-up punk rock, with song titles like "Kung Fu Ramone Culmination Tactic" (an instrumental, of course) and "Midnight Violence Rock 'n Roll." It's banging-on-a-can music, to be sure, but it's got enough structure and metal thunder and inscrutable lyrics to make it a lot of dirty-hearted fun.