The Bakersfield nu-metal progenitors are back with more gravelly vocals and dropped-D guitar tunings than you can shake a stick at.

Things start off angrily enough on "Right Now," with Davis bellowing, "Shut up, I'll f--- you up." A shout chorus if there ever was one, but the round, loping groove is actually eerily reminiscent of White Zombie's "More Human Than Human." Nas guests on the fairly standard rap-thrash of "Play Me."

There are many interesting diversions on "Mirror," like the 3/4 meter of "Deep Inside," the Scottish opening with snare drum rudiments (you heard right) of "Let's Do This Now," and atmospheric guitar work by James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welch on "I'm Done" and "Here It Comes Again."

"Alive" sports those bass-strings-are-about-to-fall-off detunings, but hard numbers like "Did My Time" and "Everything I've Known" seem to emphasize cohesive songwriting over gravel. A noteworthy step forward.