After losing his record deal and his drummer, you can’t blame Local H’sScott Lucas for being a little ornery, and he vents his spleen with exuberantforce throughout the 10 tracks on Here Comes the Zoo. Breaking new partnerBrian St. Clair, formerly of Triple Fast Action into the duo, Lucas straps onhis guitar/bass and rails at full throttle about religion (“Hands on theBible”), romantic desperation (“Baby Wants to Tame Me”), complacency(“Creature Comforted”), terminal hipness (“Bryn-Mawr Stomp”)and a legion of “Rock & Roll Professionals,” for whom he notes “nosong is too sacred” as they’re “rockin’ for dollars…realestate…(and) lawyers.”

Lucas and St. Clair also continue Local H’s track record for employing big-nameproducers without sacrificing the group’s grunge-metal-punk attack; on 1999’slauded Pack Up the Cats it was Queen/Cars maestro Roy Thomas Baker, whileHere Comes the Zoo hooks the band up with Jack Douglas, who, after workingwith Aerosmith, Cheap Trick and others, certainly knows his way around aggressiveguitar music. Lucas has opened Local H’s ranks even further this time out,too, with a cadre of guests that includes Queens of the Stone Age’s JoshHomme (on “Rock & Roll Professionals”), Misfits’ Jerry Only,Sullen’s Shanna Kiel and Simi’s Simantha Sernaker.

Here Comes the Zoo has its indulgent moments—nine minutes of “BabyWants to Tame Me” mostly works, 25-plus minutes of “What Would You HaveMe Do?” is gratuitous at best—but it’s gratifying to see that aftertaking a couple of hits, one of rock ‘n’ roll’s few haymakers isswinging back, hard.