The first beat drops and you're already in space with the Dismemberment Plan, on an oh-so-beautiful musical journey through the blackness. Sliding guitars and eerie keyboards, driven by a hella-cool drum groove and grungy-funky-grooooovin(!) bass line pull so hard you have to move some appendages (pelvic thrusts anyone?).

It doesn't take long for the singer's strange-yet-beautiful melancholic voice to kick in with, "There's no heaven and there's no hell/ No limbo in between, I think it's all a lie," and the most unexpectedly powerful melody.

Simply put, DP is the most interesting thing I have heard going on in current "rock" music for a long time. Their album, Change, represents everything that "MTV-ready, can't wait to be on TRL, I want money for my music even though I have no talent-rock" should strive for. This album constantly pushes the music in a new direction, and man does it feel good.

The melodies are amazing, beyond written description really. I have encountered people (fools) who hate the singer's voice, but I am personally of the opinion that it is one of the more unique voices I have heard; it's a little like Thom Yorke of Radiohead but with less falsetto and less (or more - I can't always tell) drugs.

His lyrics fit the music perfectly and sound more honest and less doctored-up by record production cheatery than most crap music out there today. Not only is his singing laced with enough emotion to make you freeze for hours on your couch as the album runs repeats, but his lyrics are creative, un-cliché, and the anti-thesis of what traditional "rock" lyrics seem to be.

"Face of the Earth," one of my favorite songs on the album, quickly picks up the groove under dreamy wisps of an acoustic guitar. The singer jumps in right when you need him to with "As kisses go, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary/ the alkaline lips, her fingers wrapped around my belt." Sure, the song is about love (which often seems trite to me, but the DP makes it all good). It's songs like this one that emphasize the importance of a bass player who can make your booty bounce. Honestly, it seems like an oxymoron, but these dark-yet-light-at-the-same-time melodies and harmonies sit on top of grooves that would sound great on a hip-hop album (old school though, simply based, the stuff that REALLY gets funky). As a "rock" fan listening to a "rock" album, I don't want to dance, but ohhhh it's so hard to be indifferent to the grooves on this album.

The album has a great start with the first four songs bringing it up to a high plateau of musical enjoyment. As soon as you feel the need the cool down, the DP is right there with you. Track 5 ("Come Home") brings energy down but definitely keeps the quality right where it belongs. The song is slower and more thoughtful. The bass holds ONE note for every two bars (it's just what the song needs by the way) and the drums are equally inactive and equally genius.

The intense drum and bass groove (like the music genre) of "The Otherside" is a raw and horrifically potent, with enough energy to explode. Or, take a listen to one of the more poppy but catchy-as-something-that-is-really-catchy-like-a-good -song-type-catchy song "Following Through."

All the songs on this album are extremely well-written and the musicians bring a welcome freshness to the "rock world" (oh my God, that phrase secures my spot in literary hell). Almost as soon as I got this album, it found a spot on my "favorites" shelf (reserved for "perfect tens").

I rarely give 'em so the shelf has few albums, but this album definitely deserves it. My advice: Buy this album fast, because it's a hidden gem right now that most people don't know about.

P.S.- It's cool to download a song or two, but this band deserves the record sales, so don't be selfish. They've got mouths to feed for God's sake!