The Devil. In the history of music (especially rock and roll) there are fewer inspirational figures. The list is as follows:

1) A Woman (Women — plural)
2a) God (or “Gods” if you’re nasty)
2b) The Devil (will help you sell records)
3) The Government (or another shadowy empire)
2,291,191,910,918,181,192) That “brand new” sensation you get after brushing taking a shower.

Police Teeth’s Awesomer Than The Devil is absent of satanic incantations, backward vocals that recommend that you kill yourself and pictures of the Menendez Brothers on the linear notes page. While these items would have earned enough controversy to book this Seattle/Bellingham rock quartet on a cable or local news program (Rupert Murdoch on line one. All complaints can be filed to Latest Flame Records), sometimes it’s best to let the music speak for itself. Gentle reader, press your good ear against your Police Teeth compact disc, vinyl or personal computer if you got a digital download copy of the album. What is it saying?

“If you ever wished Superchunk would stop pussyfooting around and just go for it, I might just be your new favorite record.”

Anthropomorphism always tugs at your heart-strings, silly humans. Clocking in at just over 45 minutes Awesomer Than The Devil invokes scenes of playing drinking games on the porch of your friends house, the joys of chewing bubblegum as a school-child knowing that you’re not allowed to and watching uncoordinated people attempt to play sports at a cookout that takes place in an urban environment. Sigh. Not even the ghost of Piebald could remind you of such carefree fun complete with enough toe-tapping that you might build up a callus. If Police Teeth existed in the 90’s, they would have been from the mid-west and you would have seen them in the rockumentary Out of the Loop.

“Send More Cops” is reminiscent of that old Foo Fighters song “Weenie Beenie” except it’s much noisier and more frantic. The latter is strictly filler while the former exists to serve as a warning, the listener is immediately put on notice. “Summertime Bruise” is the “sign of things to come” track. Big rock and roll intro with loud guitars, a catchy lead-riff not-so-neatly laid over top, vocal melodies that are catchy-as-hell and warm fuzzy bass tones that would make any timekeeper start a gear conversation. There are a few songs on this album (”Digital Snakes,” “True Stuff,” and “Hatebuttoned”)  that try and live up to the “I just got paid, it’s nice out and it’s time to get down,” hype of “Summertime Bruise” but never quite make it there. I do appreciate and listen to the parenthesized tracks but if I’m hopping into my car on a day like today (sunny Tuesday afternoon), I know which track I am going to first.

My two favorite tracks on Awesomer Than The Devil is the rock and roll catastrophe turned cerebral indie rock caress-fest that is “Rock and Roll Is Pyramid Scheme (Parts 1 & 2)” and the creepy narrative of “Public Defender.” I like these tracks more than the others because they are different from the rest of the album. These songs also have a depth to that may or may not be obvious to the listener upon first try, it really depends on how you choose to listen to this record. I think we all can agree that our favorite records are the ones that we learn something new on the 102,814th listen.

“Rock and Roll…” starts off like a typical Police Teeth song (besides the awesome Partman Parthorse sample at the beginning) before it transforms into a whirlwind of vocals and guitars. I wonder how many guitar tracks are used on the second part of this song alone. I’m going to guess at least five different tracks with probably a handful of different guitars. Gotta get that tone, bro. Listen to this tune on headphones if you have the chance. You have the opportunity to hear a new wrinkle in the song every time. I’m going to use my rock and roll dinosaur intellect and say that it’s unfortunate that rock bands don’t take advantage of the studio like they used to. Either they are too busy being “kewl lo-fi stuff fer yer blog” or they completely over do it (”Can I overdub this C car chord six times? Do you think a harp would sound good on this?”) for no apparent reason. Police Teeth is a band that consists of musicians that had a vision before they initiated the recording process. Sometimes it’s good have a plan.

“Public Defender” is song that leaves me wondering, “What the hell? Where is the band that wrote this?” You can feel the slow grinding futility of our criminal justice system in those snare rim shots. The angst of placing your life in the hands of that which can’t be trusted? It’s right there in the screamed vocals. When the vocals become reduced to a spoken whisper, the guitars begin screeching that which the singers can not. This song took longer than any other song on this album for me to appreciate, but I can officially say that I am in love. It’s mostly unlike any other track on this album. If you like this song, you’ll also enjoy the cover of “Watching the Hydroplanes” by Tunnel Vision.

I do have one minor complaint with this album and that is the song “Hatchet Wound City.” I hate it. I’m not sure why it’s on this record. It’s as if they took a bunch of rejected ideas, mashed them together and decided that the melody for numerous parts of this song could be inspired by the dial-tone on a land-line. “You remember that time I didn’t step on my tuning pedal and we turned that riff into a song?” Control. Alt. Delete.

Overall, this will be one of strongest local rock and roll records released this year. If you don’t already own it, head down to the Comet this Friday night and attend their album release show. Rumor has it that if you pick up the new Police Teeth record, you can have a CD copy of one of their older albums for free. If you’re looking to obtain the elusive pink vinyl version of Awesomer Than The Devil, don’t get your hopes up. I think they are all sold out. Insert corny “Devil Made Me Do It” joke to conclude album review here.