*** Failure

FANTASTIC PLANET

(Slash/Warner Brothers)

Fantastic Planet is a wry commentary on the self-consciousness of alterna-rock -- a slam-bang smorgasbord of catchy hooks, goofy lyrics, and deceptive samples. Failure pick out busted sounds from the hot asphalt of garage-bred punk, leftover Seattle vibe, and '70s metal, arranging them with dynamic finesse. They burst into Helmet-style suspended jazz chords, only to deliver them with a prog-rock feel. The same melodic melancholy and scratchy guitar vengeance that pushes the medium-tempo grinder "Saturday Saviour" is brought to a boil in "Smoking Umbrellas" and finally distilled in the Zeppelin-esque ballad of "Blank." Sample-heavy segues tie the album together -- there are subway trains, merry-go-rounds, and cars on the racetrack layered one on top of the other. You could try to pin the concept-album moniker on Fantastic Planet, but what feels like ordinary adolescent awkwardness is really an extraordinary take on pop culture mish-mash.

-- Jonathan Follett

(Failure play the Middle East this Tuesday, March 4, with Local H.)