Devil's Food

Once you get past their resin-soaked detour into country music, Must've Been High, the Supersuckers aren't a band offering much in the way of surprises -- put on one of their records, and you'll get big slabs of high-swagger Rawk, with hard rock guitar punch bolted to hardcore speed-jive while a cloud of smart-ass humor hovers over the top. With this kind of consistency of vision, it shouldn't come as a shock that Devil's Food, an odds 'n' sods collection of single sides, Internet-only tracks, covers, and unreleased tunes, hangs together with the focus of a "real" album instead of a compilation, but what should genuinely raise eyebrows is that nothing here sounds like a throwaway that didn't make the cut elsewhere. Originals like "Gato Negro," "Can Pipe," and "Kid's Got It Comin'" bring the rock in grand style, the "country" remakes of "Born With a Tail" and "Doublewide" boast large portions of both twang and cojones, and the covers are inspired, especially the fifth-gear run through Jerry Reed's " "Eastbound and Down" (you know, that song from Smokey and the Bandit) and a hard rockin' but faithful version of OutKast's "Hey Ya!" Crack open a beer, crank up the stereo, slap this in the player, and make with those Devil's horns -- the Supersuckers are still kickin' it out, and Devil's Food shows they've got the goods and then some. ~ Mark Deming