This time out the tunes deal with sex, drugs, violence, sex, the end of Star Trek and sex, all in various rock settings such as metal, punk and alternative. Recorded in the band's hometown of Sacramento, the disc is co-produced by Joe Johnson, who has worked with Cake and the Deftones. It sounds quite good indeed. But what of the music? As Spock would say, "Fascinating."

The CD opens strongly with "Gotta Make It So," concerning a character who's proud of his "nitro-burning Prime Directive" and who has "a tricorder full of porn." Next is a Christian-rock takeoff titled "Beam Me Up to Heaven," which draws parallels to Kirk and Christ: "Jesus has a phaser / and it's set on love." The third cut is "Belt Buckle Tractor Beam," a return to the raunch, as is Track 4, "Jerk My Kirk." Bet you can't guess what that one's about. It starts off as a ballad, but about a third of the way through it turns to thrash. Track 5, "Tribbles and Ecstasy," is pure Ramones "I Wanna Be Sedated," a rundown of the Trek characters and their drugs of choice.

Set phasers for rock!

"The Ballad of Bones 2," a song about getting sloshed with a young medical student named Leonard McCoy, is a 3/4-time country tune. Track 7 is titled "Track 11," and it's a true high point. Warp 11 isn't messing around here, they're playing what could well be their breakout tune. It deserves airplay, if anyone is listening to the radio these days. It's rather like a combination of Rush and U2. Keyboardist Kiki Stockhammer does a good vocal job here, sounding like Chrissie Hynde.

Track 8, "Trekquiem," gives Stockhammer a lead vocal as a crew-gal whose lovers always get killed in the weekly episodes. This cut boasts some of Jeff Hewitt's best drumming on the album, as well as some tasty guitar work from Brian Moore. It also shows how well this outfit can handle their dynamics. Another standout.

Next up is "Section 31," a good straight-ahead rocker, then "The Saddest Song Ever Written About Star Trek," which is basically a 1950s teenage love ballad with what sounds suspiciously like the tried-and-true C-Am-F-G progression heard so often back in the days of doo-wop. After the good clean dirty fun of "Please State the Nature of the Medical Emergency," Warp 11 offers the disc's only real misfire, "Kirock," which shoots for a Native American groove. It didn't work for me, but maybe that's because I thought the episode it references was pretty lame. They can't all be gems!

The CD closes with a clever idea—three tunes related by their titles: an acoustic guitar ballad, "He's Dead, Jim"; the Southern-rock-flavored "I'm Dead, Jim"; and a lament for the disappearance of Trek from the airwaves, "It's Dead, Jim."