ALBUM REVIEW

CHRIS WHITLEY, “Din of Ecstasy” ( Work Group/Columbia )***

If Jeff Buckley is the new angel of adventurous folk rock, Whitley is the demon. Nearly four years after his atmospheric debut cast him as a man haunted by Robert Johnson’s now-ghostly hellhounds, he returns as a grittier, grimier New York City boy--still haunted but confronting the specters with in-your-face bravado.

The opening “Narcotic Prayer” sets the tone with lyrical and musical visions that are at once lulling and disturbing. That duality carries through the album’s roller-coaster dynamics--sometimes floating along elastic melodies, sometimes powerfully rocking, as Whitley pushes his at times amazingly fluid guitar playing to the fraying point. Blues remains the foundation but only as a launching pad for some distinctive, rewarding quests.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).