The Hellacopters

Jeez-o-pete if Sweden's favorite sons-a-bitches the Hellacopters don't fly outta the gate with a swell Chuck Berry-cum-MC5 rezip ("Before the Fall") — distorted, fast, a little Sha-Na-Na, but a definitive wee-hoo! Surely they're back to the nitro-burning of their mid-'90s daze.

Well, not exactly. Nicke Andersson's lead vocals aren't as over-overdubbed here, and this one's a bit less polished than the last few CDs, on which the Hellacopters were trying to get a little more listener-friendly. And yet Rock & Roll Is Dead. quickly settles into the familiar, chromed-up Radio BirdmanÐarm-wrestles-Boston-arena-pop of the rockers' latter era.

"Everything's on T.V." rewrites a couple of tunes from By the Grace of God but is instantly sticky; huge choruses come quick ("No Angel to Lay Me Down," the speedy "Bring It on Home"). Even when the songs start to blur into the Thin Lizzy run-amoks these guys can whip up passed out, the 'Copters are able to rustle that doze with twists like the girly backup vocals on the '70s Stones-about "Leave It Alone" or the sweet minor chords on "Make It Tonight."

So, Rock & Roll is top-heavy and not the group's best output. But Hellacopter loyalists don't really care that these guys write and record fairly quickly, because the explosively fun tours are a nice trade-off. And really, if it's big hook/torn jeans/capital R-ock you dig, few do it better.