Shades of Rage According to Henry Rollins

ROLLINS BAND “The End of Silence”

Imago * * *1/2

More than an hour into this album--after more than a decade as a punk-etc. icon, really--Henry Rollins finally reduces everything to his one-word mantra: “ Rage! . . . rage! . . . rage! . . . rage! “ the tattooed wonder barks in the lengthy, intense album-closer “Just Like You,” as his hard-hitting three-piece band hammers home the exclamation points.

Rage is to Rollins as snow is to Eskimos. He knows its textures so intimately that he has 40 different ways to describe it, and he gets to nearly all of them on this collection. He could certainly teach a thing or two to the new generation of frustrated young rockers--and judging by how many of them trade in the same big ‘70s-ish rock-punk hybrid as Rollins, he already has.

But this is his crowning achievement--it not only out-Soungardens Soundgarden, it tops Rollins’ own work with Black Flag and beyond.

Guitarist Chris Haskett is a marvel, playing in an economical style that often recalls several ‘60s/’70s arena-rock gods, while bassist Andrew Weiss and drummer Sim Cain’s dynamics are beyond those of most bands in the genre. Rollins even has a little fun with his lyrics, offhandedly quoting lines from sources as unlikely as the Chambers Brothers’ “Time Has Come Today,” Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung” and the Beatles’ “Oh, Darling.” Rage has rarely had it so good.

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