**1/2 Sugarsmack

TANK TOP CITY

(Sire)

North Carolina's answer to Boss Hog continue the mean-ass streak that began with the distorto density of their '93 debut, Top Loader, and '95's Spanish Riffs EP. The latter especially is a head-clearing blast of aggression that's an apt preamble to this CD. Clenched tighter than a welterweight's fist, Sugarsmack deliver a hopped-up mix of white-trash blooze and art-punk bluster that's simultaneously obnoxious and hard to resist -- at least some of the time. And though the disc loses steam despite ratcheting up the punk meter midway through, the brooding last track, "Roy," saves the day. Strutting through a junkyard of jagged glass and pop-culture debris, singer Hope Nicholls is the star of this particular sideshow -- she's snide and forceful, in love with vowels in the same feral way as Patti Smith and Polly Jean Harvey. At its most inspired, Sugarmack's riffing, rhythmic toughness can make a lyric about Julia Roberts's mouth ("Jefferson") sound like a switchblade knifing you in the back.

-- Jonathan Perry