Habit of Mine is a Los Angeles based quartet whose approach to rock is very dark and foreboding, a la Alice in Chains and Tool, yet at times exemplifies artsy rock like Jane's Addiction. It's this juxtaposition that make the 16 tracks that comprise the eponymous release so engaging, as the band can go from dirty Danzig-esque grooves ("Habits Of Mine") to enchanting acoustic ambience ("Spring") at a moment's notice, keeping the atmosphere intense all along the way. Sweeping guitar lines and trippy rhythms are firmly placed, allowing the musician's camaraderie to play off of one another, creating a pseudo-psychedelic landscape where cascading rock music reigns supreme. Majestically brooding, Habit of Mine's disc gives the listener a smorgasbord of ethereal emotions and permits your ears to ponder possibilities other rock bands just can't deliver.

On their bio sheet they describe themselves as Pantera meets Jeff Buckley meets Ted Nugent meets Jane`s Addiction. Huh? That`s either a warning of things to come or a really bizarre-ass band. Well I wouldn`t say either was true in this case fortunately. Habit of Mine sounds a bit more like an older Alice in Chains or maybe even Queen/Rush at times. Ok my comparisons are worse than theirs were. But yeah they`re more of a stoner rock band I suppose than anything else. But they`re a pretty good one at that. Then again how can anything be bad coming out of Berkeley California? This just one more reason why I hate living in Virginia where innovation is a four-letter word. I think Habit of Mine has just become a self-fulfilled prophecy.

Habit of Mine is a typical four-piece nu-metal band out of California…well, they are for the first two songs on this really really long debut album. "I Think About You" and "Dark Little Princess" are very much a part of that whole post-grunge crunch thing that all the groups were doing two or three years ago, and all you can really tell about them from these two songs are: A) they play well enough; B) Erik Macenas sings well enough; C) drummer Todd Duda needs some work on his lyrics. ("You say I was sinking / But my heart still floats" -- eesh.) But something weird happens when the third song, "One Wish," comes on. This isn't nu-metal; it's…it's…it's folky prog! And it's kinda interesting! Hmmm. Then we get to "Habits of Mine," the almost-title track; it's…it's…it's like all those weird hybrid hard/soft songs on Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti! And Macenas' voice actually does that messed-up Robert Plant warbling thing! Suddenly, all bets are off, and this album (and this group) get awfully hard to pigeonhole. Some of the songs tend towards the easy metal-ballad or loud slamming pounding pieces, and that's cool enough -- hey, everyone's gotta rock sometimes. But these songs just don't stand out from Nickelback territory, really. But other songs do, they really really do: the creepy instrumental "Trip Shit," the psychedelic "Reasons" (someone's been listening to Soundgarden, which is fine by me because Soundgarden ROOOOOOOOOOOOLED), and the twelve-minute "Spring," which morphs halfway through into a completely different song, a wonderful feature for Erik Jensen's guitar solos (yes, that's plural on the solos, there) and the bottom-end laid down by bassist Tom Gardner. So although this isn't a great record, it bodes very well that Habit of Mine is so wonderfully ambitious. If Duda could just not write stuff like "One and two / Buckle my shoe / Three and four / Close the door", and if they could hold onto their admirable musical schizophrenia, I really think they could have some even better stuff in their future. But in the meantime, this is some fun-ass loud metal prog folk jamband poppy rock music indeed.

Erik Jensen (guitar) is awesome! Erik Macenas, vocals, is a hottie. Oh, and talented too. "One Wish" showed a serious, sensitive side. It almost didn’t belong on CD, especially right before the dark "All of You". "Closer" sounds like Jane’s Addiction. I started to get a little bored halfway through until "Whenever I See Your Face". Still liked the CD. I wonder if they’re as hot in person…