Album Scott Miller & The Commonwealth/"Thus Always to Tyrants" (Sugar Hill)

Miller emerges from his old band, the V-Roys, with a set of tunes so stirring it makes you wonder if the album's title and cover art were meant as ironically as they initially appear.

This is loud, roughshod rock 'n' roll about guys doubly cursed with a penchant for trouble and astute self-awareness (titles tell it: "Across the Line," "I Made a Mess of This Town," "Daddy Raised a Boy"). In the middle of the searing
guitar and percussion assaults, Virginia boy Miller takes time out for a pair of acoustic Civil War songs, and he ties up the whole, richly satisfying package with a grittily sung, piano-accompanied spiritual.

4 stars, B.S.