Psychostick
Sandwich
Rock Ridge

"Scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub!" That's the chorus from Psychostick's song "Shower," a song about, well, taking a shower. You see, Psychostick is not like most metal bands. Some groups are busy battling the Devil or having shouting contests with various otherworldly creatures that exist only in their minds. Psychostick on the other hand make pots of coffee ("Caffeine"), they sling fast food ("Minimum Rage"), they crave fast food ("Do You Want a Taco") and yes, they take showers. In other words, these rivet-heads live and breathe metal all day long and they have an absolute blast doing it. There are twenty-four bites to Sandwich and all of them are humorous; some songs are lyrically witty while others feature words that are juvenile in their approach. The really "funny" thing is that it all works, at least for the first couple of listens. The music however is head-rattlingly serious, banging away with a two-guitar attack and thumping bass-n-drums. So if you get tired of the jokes you can scrape them off and just eat the metal.

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Holy Rolling Empire
Gigantis
Burning House

This Tucson band used to be called the Crowd and Gigantis proves to be full of interesting sounds to go along with the updated (and much-improved) moniker. Most everything here features psychedelia whether it's subtle or overt; "Bipolar Bear Mania" sounds like something John Lennon would have written for the Beatles back when the band was gobbling LSD while "Robot Command" is a slower form of psych-rock that hints at T. Rex and Marc Bolan. Nothing here is too far out though and songs like "If You Can't Beat It…" show that Holy Rolling Empire is quite capable of riding the same airwaves plied by bands like the Killers.

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Crushed
Shadows and Substance
No Relief

We've told you about Crushed before, back when the Phoenix-based melodic hard-rockers released their My Machine album. The group returns with this six-song E.P. produced by Mike Clink (Guns n' Roses, Metallica) and the pairing has produced a few radio-ready rockers, the best of which is the Aerosmith/Motley Crue mash-up "Shadows and Substance." A couple of covers from the '80s round out the effort in the form of the Church's "Reptile" and a nice take on the Psychedelic Furs' "Love My Way."

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Sugar High
Let the Sunshine Out
Thousandaire

Sugar High is without doubt one of the best pop/rock bands to come out of Arizona ever. Singer Adrian Evans has a very pleasant voice and perhaps more importantly he's a fine songwriter. It's pretty obvious that Evans has a deep respect for fellow Tempe jangle-rockers the Gin Blossoms; opening cuts "Scatter" and "Going/Again" are especially Blossom-like while "Tainted" sounds like something master-of-pop Matthew Sweet might do. Fans of this type of music will instantly have a taste for Sugar High and they'll also be treated to a super-jangly cover of Cheap Trick's "Oh Candy."