**1/2 Amen

WE HAVE COME FOR YOUR PARENTS

(Virgin)

It's not just your parents Amen vocalist Casey Chaos is after on the LA punk-metal band's second disc. He'd also like to see you raped, and as soon as he's done violating your mother, he's gonna sodomize your sister. Count top-shelf producer Ross Robinson and the UK rock press among those smitten with Chaos, but too often his bile is left searching for a hook on this album. Which may be the point -- the band's penchant for noise over melody creates an appropriately snarling backdrop for the singer's unapologetic bitching. Amen also display an undeniable gift for groove on "Ungrateful Dead" and "Dead on the Bible," the latter being that ode to your sister. Chaos trades in his enmity for righteous sloganeering on "CK Killer" and "Refuse Amen," both of which deliver a batch of rousing catchphrases even as they resist the temptation to develop into full-blown choruses. Guitarists Paul Fig and Sonny Mayo shine throughout here, erecting a cracked wall of feedback and wayward harmonics that threatens to disintegrate at any moment. But for all of Chaos's spewing there's no release, and after a while the tension becomes unbearable.

-- Sean Richardson