If you are not familiar with CKY, you most likely have unknowingly heard their music in the shock/stunt/skate videos Landspeed,CKY2K, CKY3, and on the television show "Jackass". Their involvement with the videos almost certainly happened due to the fact CKY's drummer Jess is the big brother of "Jackass" prankster and professional skater Bam Margera. Other that having their music in the videos, the ties between the band and the show are virtually non-existant. For being associated with such goofy antics on film, this is a band who takes their music very seriously - and it shows.

CKY incorporate elements of several styles of music and blend it into their own unique mix. While genre-bouncing isn't something new for a band to try, most efforts end up sounding pieced together and unnatural. This is not the case with CKY, however. Combining the riffage of Black Sabbath, the spacey effects and Moogs of electronic music, the groove of funk, and the and layers of guitar (a la Billy Corgan) CKY has made a sound distinctly their own.

From the opening riff of the song "Welcome to Hellview" it becomes instantly apparent that the band has created a sound not found anywhere else. The guitar has a distinct distortion tone that I just cannot put my finger on when describing. The vocals vary from to clear and strong to breathy and emotional, often within the same song. Thankfully, the singing never falls into the annoying nu-metal trappings of bands like Korn or Godsmack.

I am curious how a four-piece band is going to pull off all the layered guitars and keyboards in a live setting. Whether they use additional musicians, backing tapes, or just eliminate the parts altogether is a mystery to me. Their tour is hitting my town soon so I will just have to find out for myself.

This album is a definite progression from their previous work, both in song quality and level of production. The material sounds much cleaner and tigher than anything they've done in the past. Every song has a hook and a really natual flow. While their earlier major-label album "CKY: Volume 1" had two or three gems buried within its track list, "Infiltrate.Destroy.Rebuild" is solid from start to finish.

Not to say this is a perfect album, however. The album has some brief moments that become almost too poppy for its own good (the song "Plastic Plan" comes to mind). Another shortcoming is the album's length. With only 10 songs clocking in at a little over half an hour, I was left feeling like there needed to be more to the disk. This is not necessarily a bad thing though, I would rather have 10 tracks of quality material than a dozen with a couple being fodder not even suitable for B-sides.

I purchased this disk for under 10 bucks and it undoubtedly is worth the money. If you are interested in trying something a little different than the current wave of screamo-emo clones, give CKY a listen.