Metal Underground.com

If Slunt want to play the blues, they should recheck their priorities. Right now, they waste too much time rehearsing their songs. They could spend that time breaking whiskey bottles and throwing up.

That's what's wrong with "One Night Stand," the New York quartet's third album. Slunt set out to play a messy, raucous hybrid of stoner metal, old school hard rock and blues. It all comes together except for the heart. For a band like this to work right, they have to play like they're constantly on the edge of an alcoholic blackout, making up for any lack of creativity with their pure ragged energy. "One Night Stand" makes me wish I was listening to something like Flipper or the Jesus and Mary Chain, bands that can back sludgy riffs with a sense of immediacy and danger.

Slunt aren't posers. Online concert footage is widely available, and they tear into their songs when they get onstage. The band has genuine songwriting talent, and in a live format, they muster the necessary charisma that powers their songs. In particular, vocalist Abby Genet can emote during live performances but you can't say that about her singing on "One Night Stand." Her vocal style is explicit, sensual and confrontational when it works. But more often than not, it feels phoned in, shallow, and insincere.

Strangely, they feel far more authentic and confident when the songs get relaxed and druggy in tone. The verses of "Give Me Love" smoke with restrained passion, for instance, until the chorus rushes right back into mediocre bar-star butt rock. "Over It" is also a standout, owing to the vocals' dynamic range and the band's willingness to slow down and play with texture.

The wishy-washy production, from some guy calling himself Mudrock, who we can apparently blame for Godsmack and Alice Cooper, rarely does anything to help Slunt out. The vocals sound two dimensional, as if sourced from a bad mp3. The guitar tone, at its best, feels distant and muffled, and the drums clink and clatter inaudibly. You'd be far better off to catch a live show sometime, maybe drop a few bucks on a shirt. But hey, at least they have a cowbell.