Dallas-based metal band Rivethead has long been a strong presence in the local metal scene, but with their newest album, The 13th Step, they've produced a truly impressive album that should be a fixture in the collection of any self-respecting fan of industrial metal. Combining the best elements from NIN, Rammstein, and a plethora of other powerful industrial bands --as well as the Hammer of Thor himself-- Rivethead has made an amazingly polished album for an unsigned band.

The 13th Step was produced at the band's own expense at Dallas' fine Nomad Studios, and the remarkable sound quality is evident from the first few seconds in. Too many metal bands rely on volume and distortion to cover their less-than-stellar musicianship, but thankfully Nomad is able to squeeze out a surprising amount of sound from just four musicians, while giving it great clarity at the same time. Remember the last time you heard a metal CD in which you could understand all the lyrics? If you're judging an album on sound quality and tight musicianship, this record is already way ahead of the curve.

The music itself is phenomenal. Never relying too long on the often-repetitive industrial electronic hooks and beats, Rivethead constantly changes things up in each and every one of the fourteen tracks on the album, powerfully mixing viciously pounding drum and bass with the authentic dark soul industrial metal needs.

From the start, this is one hell of an album: the first track on the album, 'It', is thunderously heavy industrial metal, gently assaulting the ear with pounding, driving bass/drum beats and lead singer Steve Page's scratchy-voiced singing. Rivethead follows up the opener with 'Stirring It Up' --again with the heavy stuff, including plenty of electronic sound effects layered underneath a barrage of hammer-metal, before wrapping it up with a chilling, darkly electronic finale.

They follow that with the Rammstein-esque (early Rammstein, before they went all California) 'Explosive': heavy bass and drums combined with haunting keyboard (also played by Page), again with the scratchy vocals over it all. The song is brilliantly produced and orchestrated, and if you haven't realized the sheer musicianship of guitarist Kevin Kerr, bassist Derek James and drummer Mark Halford by this point, you're listening to a different album.

'Explosive' is followed by yet another impressive display of Zombie-metal, 'I Knock You Down', a song which seems tailor-made to be played at Dallas Stars games, UFC bouts or generally anywhere where ass is about to be kicked and names about to be taken. Someone ought to tell Jere Lehtinen or Kimbo Slice about this track, so they can finally find that long-sought-after theme music.

After getting all worked up from the opening four songs, the next two stand out more than any others on the album. Song 5, 'Becoming', is a Trent Reznor-inspired slow and ponderous ballad, which picks up halfway through but is still far more subdued than the previous songs on the album. To be honest, I didn't care for it the first 2-3 times I listened to it, but it does grow on you. 'Becoming' is probably the closest Rivethead comes on this album to Radio-Friendly Heavy Pop.

The following song, 'In This World Without You', is even slower, an out-of-character lost-love ballad. When I found out it was about bassist Derek James' actual personal loss, I felt like a jerk for not liking it -- no doubt when Rivethead plays it live, there's probably not a dry eye in the house-- but there's nothing trickier than a metal band making a successful ballad. For every 'Nothing Else Matters', there's a million 'When the Children Cry': at any rate, the song is not a bad one, but it does stand apart from the rest of the album, and adds a little gravitas to the record.

The album gets right back into the good stuff with 'Not My Time', a brilliant piece mixing heavy metal with an amazingly catchy Middle Eastern-style guitar and drum hook. Folk metal isn't something you commonly hear from bands in the U.S., despite its ancient power and proven effectiveness. Great music is both felt and heard, and 'Not My Time' is one of the best songs on the album for just this reason.

Showing off their diversity of musicianship, Rivethead jumps from folk-metal and squarely back into KMFDM/Rammstein territory with the next two songs, 'Never' and 'Fear Me'. Both combine driving industrial metal with soaring vocals, and 'Fear Me', in particular, seems cut-and-ready for massive radio airplay. The fact that this band is getting play on XM and Sirius Satellite Radio, but not been signed by a major label, speaks volumes as to why the record industry is in so much trouble both artisitically and financially.

Rivethead changes it up once again with song 10, 'Electrik', which is straight-up industrial disco dance metal, super-catchy and right up there with anything you'll hear at a Marilyn Manson concert. The band once again changes it up with the following song, 'My Discord', which is excellent industrial metal with piano thrown over it for haunting gothic effect.

The single best song of the album, in my usually untrustworthy opinion, is the twelfth song on the album, 'Inside'. The song sways drunkenly between hyperactive and heavy, and is pleasantly punctuated by a engagingly robotic female vocal chorus. 'Inside' leads directly into the title track on the album, which is soaked in heavy guitar riffs and dripping with electronica, with even more Reznor-esque piano-and-melancholic-vocals interludes to bring the listener in.

The album wraps up with 'Water', which closes out the album with even more Eastern-style guitar picking, this time woven around a (hilarious) baritone voice-over explaining the geopolitical and foreign policy implications of water. Page once again does a great vocal bit in the choruses of the song, while the rest of the band performs beautifully.

The 13th Step is, without question, a monumental album, arguably the equal of any other record written and produced by the Dallas metal scene since Pantera imploded. Rivethead's aggressive-yet-beautiful brand of industrial metal is impressive. And their diversity of musical styles --while always remaining true to their heavy metal roots-- hopefully ensures that the band's distinctive sound will never get stale and predictable.