Sci-Fi Crimes

Ten years into their recording career, Chevelle takes a detour into America’s paranormal fringe on Sci-Fi Crimes. This time, they play with themes of supernatural activity and interplanetary contact while continuing to lay down churning grooves and astringent guitar lines. “Roswell’s Spell,” for instance, stomps along to a thunderous beat worthy of John Bonham as singer Pete Loeffler wrestles with the facts behind UFO mythology. More insinuating is “Highland’s Apparition,” a ghost story offered in a breathy, slightly sinister tone. The band remains committed to serving up thick-cut, riff-driven rock in the manner of past albums and tracks like “Sleep Apnea” and “Letter from a Thief” strut with predatory menace, while “Mexican Sun” displays a tormented sort of swagger and “This Circus” twitches with a hint of funk. As ever, the band expresses disdain for human pretensions — the brutal “Jars” tears into mankind’s hope for self-salvation. At its core, Chevelle remains committed to its bedrock moral principles, even as it has fun batting around some choice conspiracy theories.