*** EYE & I; “Eye & I”, <i> Epic</i>

This New York Black Rock Coalition fixture’s avant-garde splice of hard rock, earthy funk, mind-teasing psychedelia, jazz smarts and canny dramaturgy made for one of the most volcanic attractions on the New York club circuit for several years, but never found a niche in the major label world. This long-awaited debut comes close, much of the time, to the galvanic heights of that live act.

The band’s dynamic eclecticism works best in the dense, high-octane tracks, less so in sparer compositions. A full-steam attack of guitars, drums and a deejay scratching vinyl and lead singer DK Dyson’s vocal power--she’s a gospel belter serving hard rock’s refusal of sentiment--launch “I Ain’t Low,” the first track. Her lyrical wailing and blistering guitar work by Gary Poulson make a brilliant conflagration of the Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs,” while BRC co-founder Vernon Reid of Living Colour pitches in with a frontal guitar assault in “World Without End,” the album-closing scream from the soul.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).