The first and only time I’ve seen the Demolition Doll Rods was in the basement of my dorm, thanks to the East Quad Music Co-op. Back in those days (February 2005), whoever was scheduling the shows seemed to have just been picking acts out of a random hat. None of the bands who played that night really had much in common with one another and very few of the fans of those bands had much in common either. Frankly, the night seemed like a study in surrealism. I watched three guys begin a half-hearted mosh pit to the second opening act and then I watched the entire audience recoil in fright as the Demolition Doll Rods took the stage.

Why were they so scared? Probably because the Doll Rods were barely dressed. Or maybe it was because when they started playing, they sounded like the Stooges in hell. The beginning of the show was like watching three elephants attempt ballet: they were all somewhere else, especially the drummer Thumper, making a catastrophic mess. But at the same time, every song was wildly and wonderfully danceable.

A year later, some of that characteristic dissonance has disappeared from the Doll Rods’ sound for their fourth record, There is a Difference, but that sexy, blues-dance feeling is accentuated. Singer Margaret Doll Rod still roars with all of the sexiness and spontaneity of a steamy mid-afternoon fuck, while guitarist/co-vocalist Danny Doll Rod (a.k.a. the Gories’ Dan Kroha) plays the Ike to her Tina on songs such as “On The Way to School.” And frankly, no offense Thumper, but new drummer Babydoll (Tia) Doll Rod is an improvement — she thumps the skins with a bluesy sex appeal that should be able to get a group of hipsters more naked than the band in thirty seconds flat.

The only reason why we won’t be seeing this anytime soon is because sex, which involves removing one’s horn-rimmed glasses and undersized Interpol T-shirts, is so novel and frightening to the average scenester, that their erections will permanently disappear at the mere thought of copulation. Their loss.

In any case, almost every song on There is a Difference is akin to a horny August afternoon where the heat pulses and sensualizes every action. They’re perfect in their writhing, animal intensity. But like the best sexual music (from Marvin Gaye to Prince), the Doll Rods’ most lascivious tendencies are infused with a palpable sense of spirituality and perhaps that’s what makes their cover of “Amazing Grace” so spectacular and exciting. The band destroys the stereotype of the freckle-faced innocent wailing “Amazing Grace” at an unfortunate friend’s funeral while an overweight choir director fumbles on the piano.

Gone is Whoopi Goldberg pretending to be a Vegas Showgirl pretending to be a nun. All that’s left is the passion and holy brimstone fire which scorches and inspires this fallen Catholic of a reviewer. If most churches today had the evangelical power that the Doll Rods imbue in their rendition of “Amazing Grace” and their “Medley” of spirituals, they wouldn’t need to send people door to door. The Demolition Doll Rods have built a salacious church of their own with this release. For anyone who wants to let themselves go, this is the record to find some enlightenment.

Reviewed by Megan Giddings