CD: "Rebel, Sweetheart" by The Wallflowers; Interscope Records.

Release: May 24.

Style: Rock.

My view: The Wallflowers, led by Jakob Dylan, son of legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, made a reputation throughout the 1990s writing and recording songs with melancholy overtones, no matter how uptempo the music was. "Rebel, Sweetheart," its fifth album, is the product of the band's return to the studio to follow up on 2000's "Breach." And a fine return it is.

In usual fashion, Dylan doesn't just tell a story in his songs. He uses his words to paint a portrait of his feelings, and his vocal work drives his point home.

For example, on "God Says Nothing Back," you can imagine a person so downtrodden, at such a low point in his life, that he questions his beliefs and thinks that his deity has abandoned him. "I Am a Building" is another song of this nature but instead of being on point, the lyrics read like a personal poem about love more than a rock song — not that that's a bad thing.

And then there's "From the Bottom of My Heart," a track that is six minutes long, making it an epic by today's standards. Here are lyrics that are literal and some that are more vague, even symbolic or abstract, but they work together to give anyone who is paying attention more imagery than they may know what to do with.

However, the band isn't stupid and knows you can't make record companies happy without putting out some radio-friendly songs for release as singles. On this album, those songs come in the form of "Days of Wonder" and "Beautiful Side of Somewhere." But I doubt you'll be hearing these tracks on the radio, because they don't fit in with the pop-punk movement that has eaten radio alive as of late. Maybe if this album were released five to seven years ago, but not in 2005.

Musically, the band is still as strong as it's ever been. Each song has a tone of assurance, conveyed through the instruments, that the mission to stay a true rock band is right. Instead of giving in to the electronica influences that have appeared in many quintessential '90s rock bands albums recently, from R.E.M to Korn, the Wallflowers stick with what they have been known to do, and that's produce lyrics-focused songs much like their obvious influences, such as Springsteen, Mellencamp and Seger.

Overall, the album is easily the band's best work since its sophomore release, 1996's "Bringing Down the Horse." Standing by its original approach to music may not win the Wallflowers a slew of new fans; the band might never release a single that was as popular as the brilliant "One Headlight"; it might not release any song that gets on Top 40 radio ever again. But the band doesn't seem to care about that as much as it does about producing great rock music. And that's all their real fans can ask of them.

Jeremy Castillo is a student at Windward Community College.