While songwriter Mark Nelson continues to churn out a combination of cryptic lyrics and chunky guitar parts, his musical style has grown. At first his songs sounded more powerful through an acoustic guitar, but their force and his deep, smoky voice now spend most of their time enveloped in electricity -- as on 1995's Tile (Permagrin). That obviously hasn't detracted from the band's ability to draw crowds, and it often sounds better when thrown against the bottom-heavy bass work of Nelson's brother, Mike, who recently took over for longtime colleague David Dunn. Behind it all drummer Paul Buhl maintains the beat with a surgeon's precision.

It's been a year since Tile, and its first single "Vincent," hit our ears. Machinery Hall's second album was brighter overall, but this track is as weary and dark as anything the band has produced. "We're trapped within this all," Nelson sings. "I'll stay here where I fall." As the song builds from quiet ruminations to unsatisfied screams, Nelson's music parallels its increasingly bitter lyrics: "I'm too tired to play this hand/we won't live forever!"

The irony of Machinery Hall's and Mark Nelson's vitriol is that it's not the whole story: some of the songs on his albums that haven't gotten as much airplay are upbeat, and some just seem content. The band's new album, Inness, which came out this week on Wicked Disc, addresses the issues of being part of the "in" group. Whether Nelson feels part of that crowd remains to be seen. But local music fans have already spoken: Machinery Hall is about as "in" as you can get.

-- Andrew Strickman