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Local H first struck during the post-grunge tide of the mid-'90s, and critics often boxed the band's early albums in with the sea of other Nirvana-worshipping artists. With Here Comes the Zoo, though, the Illinois duo sounds less like some wannabe Northwest outfit and more akin to Southern California stoner rock, with a classic rock kick. The psychedelic, sludgy riffs, thudding bass lines, and pressing heaviness to songs like "(Baby) Wants to Tame Me," "Half-Life," "What Would You Have Me Do?" and "Rock 'n' Roll Professionals" (featuring Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age), make Local H sound like a poppier version of bands like QOTSA, Fu Manchu, and Nebula. The harder metal edge and spacy instrumental passages work well on the album, but the band still seem to be struggling between taking the leap of faith to join their more experimental stoner-rock contemporaries and playing less interesting, radio-ready hard-rock songs (like "Hands on the Bible" and "Keep Your Girlfriend"). Hopefully Local H will side with the former, as the album's tripped-out, feedback-heavy ending shows these boys do have some Pink Floyd influences after all, and it'd be a shame to let them go to waste. <br><br>--Jennifer Maerz