Puny Human- It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humanity 
(Small Stone) www.smallstone.com

Sure, Puny Human look like walk-on characters from a failed 1978 sitcom about 30 year old community college students, and drummer Iann Robinson’s day job as MTV’s headbanger Matt Pinfield gets way more press attention than his monster of a rock and roll band, and they always seem to be aimlessly wandering around in the crowd of every rock show I go to, even though they live 5 hours away; but for all the sad sackisms Puny Human suffer, they more than make up for it with their elephant gun assault of shamelessly groovy b-movie geek-metal. “It’s Not the Heat” tales a few sidewinding trips into pure, funky, 70’s album rock (dig the Foghatting “Devil’s Riff”) and radio-ready Foo Fighting (“Kill You in the Face”), but mostly it’s their signature Clutch-terrorizing-Thin Lizzy riffola here, only supersized by J Yuenger’s expansive production. And while the groove sets in, there’s always the mindbending lyrics to contend with. Like stream of consciousness action scenes from imaginary movies starring Cheri Caffaro, Chewbacca, and the A Team van, Jim Starace spits out these desperate missives with all the conviction of a speed freak 17 hours into a weekend long meth binge. So, you know, sit back, relax, consider the implications of “Witches Chasing Cabs” and let Puny Human rock you the fuck out. They’re way better than anything Iann’s peddling on MTV, that’s for sure.