Pop Reviews : A Wall of Sound From Chainsaw Kittens

No hooks, little finesse and few modulations marred the fractured wall of sound erected by post-glitter punkers Chainsaw Kittens at English Acid on Wednesday. Since their 1990 debut album, “Violent Religion,” the Kittens’ id-driven, Dionysian grunge has won them attention on both the hard-rock and alternative circuits, and the Norman, Okla., group treated the Hollywood crowd to a raucous onslaught with the brutal inevitability of a 40-car freeway fender-bender.

Charismatic singer Tyson Todd Meade, a cross-dressing, decadent faun in silver lame and black satin with kohl-rimmed eyes, claims inspiration from the New York Dolls and Cheap Trick. Indeed, the Kittens reject coiffed heavy-metal glamour and self-conscious virtuosity in favor of pallid, poetic looks that belie their nervy plunge deep into the bowels of a song. Kind of like the Ramones on strychnine-laced acid.

Meade is one of the more abandoned and accomplished screamers this side of Little Richard, but with the band miked up to near mixing-board combustion Wednesday, he had to fight to project the delicious, Baudelarian lyrics to songs such as “Connie I’ve Found the Door” (the lead song of the set and of their new album, “Flipped Out in Singapore”). Some audience members, visibly withering under the merciless attack, bowed out before the set was over.

Chainsaw Kittens play tonight at Bogart’s, Marina Pacifica Mall, 6272 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, (310) 594-8976, 9 p.m.; and Saturday at Winters, 5880 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, (619) 278-8497, 8:30 p.m.