Album DescriptionBlack Comet is dense, economical rock presenting full, raw performances in a chamber rock setting. From the classic rock style of "Look and Listen" and "Pretty Life" in the vein of Neil Young, Van Morrison and VU, to the southern rock gothic of "Elastic Days" that pauses for a Palestrinian lullaby right in middle of the song, this record is handling heavy equipment and handling it well. Horns join in for the "The Pale", a The Who-wants-to-party track, and they appear again on "Black Comet," a song that blends traditional "Cotton-eyed Joe" with Creedence?s "Fortunate Son" into a manic coping song -- or is it a fighting song? Like the gas-powered rockabilly spirit of "Racetrack," most tracks on the record hit hard right out of the box, but for this very reason, don?t miss the four songs that stray from the ring. Slow dance "Song in F" asks the dance partner to "Stand in, if you must, for the bones on the ground," before the music runs right into regret. "A Revolution Away" is a breathless waltz, a wordless giggle that puts innocence, mischief and hope in very close proximity to the cynical dragon. Funereal anthem "The Witness" might best be filmed at an English football match with the stands singing its Verdi-style chorus, except this is a song about what it feels like when defeat and victory can no longer be distinguished. Gypsy violins replace swooping synthesizers in "Light Dressed Storm," a dance track about the ground getting its revenge on the sky. (Baria Records on The Heavenly States album Black Comet) Now that Bruce Baby (Springsteen) has taken it down a notch or a dozen, where has all the gusto, that larger-than-humdrum-life rock, gone? It sounds like it's safe in the hands of the Heavenly States. The Oakland band's Black Comet (Baria) dares to grab at that huge honking sound and scope, so rare and out of favor these days ? thanks to the always energetic singing by Ted Nesseth, the up-front fiddling of Genevieve Gagon, and the band's tendency to sound as urgent as a 15-alarm fire and generally kick heinie whenever they play. When words fail Nesseth, and the sweet waltz of "A Revolution Away" fades into the poignant flute folk of "The Witness," you're prepared to hand over the keys to Brother Brucie's kingdom of inspirational rock. (Kimberly Chun, San Francisco Bay Guardian, May 2005)