Despite what the hoards of goths would have you think, it's not easy to be truly different. It's also a major feat to create enjoyable music. To be able to pull off both at the same time is a phenomenal achievement. 3 do it with panache in Wake Pig, their fourth album, in which dark metal rhythms clash against bright pop melodies, Spanish-tinged acoustic guitar flurries match double kick drums and furiously twisted bass and the whole things sounds like it might have been made in an alternate sci-fi universe thanks to a bevy of unusual effects and sounds.

      The title track is as good as any, especially since it screams out to be their single, with an explosive verse of colorful, passionate vocals over gut-munching guitars that are visited time again by spacey effects as the punchy bass punctuates the sky with stars. Then the songs invite Rush to play Iron Maiden dual guitars while Pink Floyd orchestrate. "Alien Angel" (whose video retells the classic John Carpenter film They Live) is another creatively catchy song, creaking open with an atmospheric swirl of gurgling guitar before a breathy, ominous verse builds up to a chorus of "Are you an angel / Whose ship ran aground?" This is about as close as these guys get to traditional topics, as the rest of the songs run the gamut of thought-provoking fodder that are often spiritual without subscribing to any particular faith. "Monster" is just that, a dreamy show of skill couched in a great melody, relentlessly pounding an odd meter into your head by squishy mega-flanged bass and guitar tones. While vocalist/songwriter Joey Eppard has a clean, appealing vocal style throughout (none of that cookie monster stuff here), on this song and the vocal-harmony-laden "Dogs of War" he especially sounds like Joel Hanson, one of two vocalist in the influential Christian power pop band PFR, a very good thing to my ears. 

      Although there are earlier hints, it's not until "Bramfutura" that Eppard's mastery of Flamenco guitar is given full vent: two instrumental minutes of jaw-dropping yet melodic acoustic guitar with no overdubs. This is immediately followed with a sucker punch of "Trust," a soaring, inspiring song right out of the PFR playbook, with an added musical passage that goes from spooky to spacey.

      While I'm sure I'm missing a few, the influences that I heard include Queen, Beatles, PFR, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree, The Mars Volta, Tool, Self, Coheed and Cambria, Spock's Beard and Dream Theater. Connect the dots between these bands, add incredibly melodic songwriting and cohesive musicianship gained by 10 years as a band, duct-tape the whole thing onto an orbiting satellite and you've got Wake Pig. These guys are supposed to be solid live. A quick trip to Indy on August 4 will let you see for yourself.

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