POP MUSIC REVIEWS : DEL FUEGOS--NOT READY FOR TITLE

The Del Fuegos have been coming on as contenders in the no-nonsense, meat-and-potatoes rock ‘n’ roll arena, where the main things are a solid beat, hot hooks, a nasty guitar sound, some youthful urgency and--most important--a prevailing sense of integrity.

The Boston quintet, which headlined the Palace on Friday, is the latest hope for L.A.’s Slash Records, the home of the underdog that’s fostered the careers of such rootsy and worthy bands as X, the Blasters and Los Lobos.

In the unusual platform of a widely-televised beer commercial, the Del Fuegos have expounded on their philosophy, explaining that an audience can spot a phony a mile away, so you better be honest. No arguing that, but an audience can also tell when you’re dull, which is why for long stretches of Friday’s show the atmosphere was strictly low-voltage.

Bedrock music like this needs more drive and power than the band delivered, more developed songs than they write, and more charisma and personality than raspy-voiced main guy Dan Zanes projects.

You’d expect this kind of group to really come into its own on stage, but for some reason the Del Fuegos remain more intriguing on their two albums, where the spare, sinewy sound has more aura and, surprisingly, a more biting attack than they mounted on Friday.

Their strongest riffs--like the neck-snapping drums-guitar exchange of “Nervous and Shakey”--were good enough to create the expected excitement, and the songs that were more than just a riff showed that the promise is still there.

Part of the Fuegos’ problem may have been the fact that they followed an unadvertised opening set by X, marking the group’s first L.A. show without mainstay guitarist Billy Zoom, whose boots will be hard ones to fill. With the Blasters’ Dave Alvin filling in temporarily, the hometown heroes ripped through their familiar repertoire in strong form: Instead of becoming worn down through repetition, X’s best songs keep taking on new shapes and revealing new facets.