Prong’s Unique Blend Comes Together in ‘Awakening’

PRONG, “Rude Awakening”; Epic *** 1/2

Prong has spent nearly 10 years cultivating a surly rock hybrid that defies classification, baffling punks, headbangers and alterno-types alike. The trio’s fifth album is a seamless blend of hard rock oomph and gritty pop flourishes propelled by grooves that are as nimble as they are commanding. (Nine Inch Nails keyboardist-programmer Charlie Clouser lent his electronic touch to this hefty tour de force.)

Frontman Tommy Victor’s guitar work is sharp and agile, spiking the tunes with metallic licks one moment, then lunging into the rhythmic vortex the next. His vocals, which fall somewhere between a world-weary hiss and an aggravated snarl, slither around the rhythms and skitter across them, invoking the kind of luscious gloom that gothic-rock moguls the Sisters of Mercy perfected.

Pummeling interludes such as “Slicing” and “Dark Signs” show off subtle vestiges of the group’s hard-core origins, while “Close the Door” and “Face Value” grind with an insidiously danceable precision.

In the past Prong has paid the commercial price for skirting conveniently marketable pigeonholes. It’s high time they reap the rewards.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).