Chevelle Sci-Fi Crimes 4.5/5

To quote online music database Allmusic’s review of Vena Sera, "Anyone left looking for a little more, well, they’ll be left looking." This quote describes what’s held Chevelle back for years and what makes Sci-Fi Crimes such a massive success. Chevelle successfully does that little bit more on their latest album, and the result is their most distinguished and exceptional album in their catalogue. Nearly abandoning the cliché loud/soft dynamics and overused angst-ridden vocals, Chevelle has settled for a more experimental sound much pulled away from their past albums-even the massive success of Wonder What’s Next. But fans won’t be left missing the early days of Chevelle, they'll only be left eager to hear more. Sci-Fi Crimes shows Chevelle’s persistence to be something more than mindless alternative rock. The guitars and dynamics merge with Pete Loeffler finally coming into his own vocal style, backed up by layers of raw distortion. Guitar solos emerge among songs that previously would have been left bare. Acoustic songs and interludes are put in place of filler songs (Midnight to Midnight and An Evening with El Diablo come to mind). There’s simply no below average songs on Sci-Fi Crimes; you can easily listen to the CD from start to finish without skipping a song. Chevelle does everything that they've done right on past albums, and doesn't do what they've done wrong before. This album's mixture of grit and groove will be enough to let Chevelle fans embrace this album, and all music fans to embrace this band.