ThE fLEsh EATERs

I Used To Be Pretty 6/10

influential scenesters regroup with old friends

On the band’s first album for 15 years, chief Flesh Eater Chris Desjardins reassembles the lineup that played on the high-watermark 1981 release A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die. That means room for illustrious LA mover/shakers Dave Alvin on guitar and John Doe on bass, who relish dressing up in punk-ish psychobilly threads again for high-octane howls (“My Life To Live”), swampmired garage rock (“The Youngest Profession”) and urban gothic grooves (“She’s Like Heroin To Me”). Roughhewn thrills abound, recalling the frontman’s heady days at the helm of the influential Slash fanzine and label empire.