NOVEMBER

Sugar Free

novembernow.com

November is a darker month, when trees are stripped of their leaves and the populace braces for the onslaught of winter. Not surprisingly then, the band with that name boasts an ominous sound—a snarling, insistent jackhammering that suggests danger on the way. Some songs are sweeping in scope (“Follow Me,” “Imagination”), but others lumber along insistently (“Scars,” “Love the Lonely”) like Pearl Jam fronted by Ozzy Osbourne, with Cheap Trick occasionally coaching them from the sidelines. “We’re going to blow it up and do it again,” they shriek on the title track, bringing that belligerent attitude full throttle. It’s a scary proposition, one brought home repeatedly on Sugar Free with a wallop and a wail.