SUMMER ALBUM ROUNDUP : Moving From Skid Row to No. 1 : ** 1/2 SKID ROW “Slave to the Grind” <i> Atlantic</i>

This quintet is the highly commercial bridge between the hordes of anonymous but slick pro metal bands and the rougher-and-readier, hard-living Guns N’ Roses set, without a foot squarely in either camp. They claim authenticity--which, in metal terms, would mean they’re genuinely street-wise profane jerks instead of show-bizzy profane jerks--but sound as polished (and have the same kind of chant-along choruses) as the Crue.

The band itself is formidable, and the follow-up to its 3-million-selling debut album entered the pop charts at No. 1. It features some of the year’s best south-of-grindcore metal tracks--a couple of perfunctory, not very heartfelt ballads notwithstanding. But singer Sebastian Bach is a take-it-or-leave-it taste, depending on your predilection for pompous bad boys.

Not content to possess a fine, mandatory descendant-of-Ian-Gillan wail, Bach also feels the need to prove his tattoos and snarl a lot, especially in “Mudkicker,” wherein nearly half the lines end in an affected grunt (example: “Here’s mud in your eye- uh “). And though he makes himself the titular character in “The Threat,” he’d do well to remind himself that real threats to society tend not to announce themselves quite so much.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to five (a classic).