Audio Mixer: Koool G Murder.

A concept album about werewolves looking for love in all the wrong places may elicit groans from many music fans. However, if any artist can pull it off without veering into the silly or absurdly pretentious, a good bet would be the critically lauded Mark Oliver Everett, driving force behind the Eels. HOMBRE LOBO (2009), when sincere to the lupine theme, as on the howling barroom brimstone of opening track "Prizefighter" and centerpiece "Fresh Blood," is laced with some of the most ferocious, most Jon Spencer-esque rock Everett's ever dispensed. However, he is not above diverging from the path, and it's the quieter moments, the neurotic, intelligent pop (on which the Eels mostly made their name), that shine on HOMBRE LOBO, particularly the delicate strummings of "The Look You Give That Guy" and "In My Dreams."