HUNGRY LUCY -- TO KILL A KING

Once upon a time, love went wrong. A beautiful, dark queen named Christa Belle -- whose voice is as sweet as sugar -- sought to escape the tyranny of her king by killing him with words. She enlisted her friend, the Electric Woodsman, whose name is War-N Harrison. The two friends constructed lush lullabytes of down-tempo, Medieval Trip Pop to accomplish their goal. This is their tale. Hungry Lucy's To Kill a King, their follow-up to 2003's highly-acclaimed Glo, unfolds like a fairytale after the "happily" part is gone, and there's the "ever after" to deal with. It begins with the palace intrigue of "High Price of Mistakes" and moves toward the (very personal) light of "To Kill a King." Harrison's sonic backdrop provides the perfect dark castle, cottage in the woods and mysterious forest for Belle's Snow White in Black to venture through. His mix of organic-sounding instruments and electronic whooshes and beeps accomplishes a cool feat: He makes Renaissance period airs and odes sound like Electronica, and he makes Electronica sound like Renaissance period airs and odes. Belle's devastating lyrical couplets take the slow way of death for her "king" rather than the quick dispatch. She's "killing" the power the king has over her rather than the actual king himself. He lives, but has to live with lines like, "He said 'If you leave me now, my suicide will follow'/And I said, 'What are you waiting for?' " (from the title track). Her honeyed voice is the sweetener that coats the poison of her lyrics. As a bonus, there are four dance mixes of tracks from the CD by noted Synth Pop duo Null Device, Trip-hoppers Trigger10d and F9 (aka Harrison). Hungry Lucy performs Friday at the Southgate House as a part of "Electrofest." (Dale Johnson) Grade: A

· LOU BARLOW -- EMOH (MERGE)

LOU BARLOW -- EMOH

Lou Barlow's latest effort, the snidely titled EMOH, floats by easily enough. Perhaps too easily. In fact, six spins in and the only thing that sticks is a Ratt cover. Yes, "Round-n-Round" gets the Barlow-in-Folk-troubadour-mode treatment, and it's actually quite affecting. Of course, Ratt's wildly addictive version was raunchy fun, something EMOH is not. No longer plying the sonic bombast of his Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh roots, Barlow's first official solo outing takes his recent forays in restraint to new levels. Acoustic guitar, piano, cello and a steadily thumping drum machine rule the day, all recorded cleanly and with precision. Then there's Barlow's voice -- pushed front and center, he sounds surprisingly robust, like Nick Drake (surprise, surprise) on Prozac and four cups of coffee. Yet one thing hasn't changed: The spare, slow-burning "Legendary" finds Barlow as convincingly lovelorn as ever and the effective Electro-Folk of "Home" opens with this typical lament: "Look at you/Hide behind your sweater/What I want to say/Let it fall away/I don't care." Of course, he does care; EMOH is 14 songs worth of caring, very few of which rise to the visceral, soul-searing levels of Barlow's best. With longtime mate Jason Loewenstein on the sidelines, it's all Lou all the time, for better -- and sometimes worse. (Jason Gargano) Grade: C+

· THE WEDDING PRESENT -- TAKE FOUNTAIN (MANIFESTO)

THE WEDDING PRESENT -- TAKE FOUNTAIN

There should be some consensus on the success of David Gedge's Indie Pop diversions with Cinerama over the past eight years. But enough's enough, yes? Tea break's over, David. Back on your head and into the Wedding Present groove, the one responsible for equaling Elvis Presley's British mark for number of chart singles in a year. Take Fountain, Gedge's first WP studio album since 1996's Saturnalia, is everything WP fans could have hoped for; intimately drawn lyrics of love gone wrong over a dramatic and emotive soundtrack of soaring guitar and shimmering Pop sensibilities. From the Radiohead-tinged epic, "Interstate 5," and the Francis-Dunnery-meets-The-Chills swing of "I'm From Further North Than You" to the Marr/Morrissey heartbreak of "Mars Sparkles Down On Me" (where Gedge notes about an old lover's new flame, "But how can I just shake his hand/When it's been all over your skin?") and the thunderous thump of "It's For You," Gedge evaporates his eight-year Wedding Present hiatus without breaking a sweat. (Brian Baker) Grade: B+

HIGH ON FIRE -- BLESSED BLACK WINGS

· HIGH ON FIRE -- BLESSED BLACK WINGS (RELAPSE)

Normally, no matter how much time has passed, once someone has become über-famous, people will always be curious when they become involved in new projects. Didn't Blow seem even more appealing when you found out Pee Wee Herman was in it? Don't you think ex-Brat Packer Judd Nelson could strike gold with anything because he was John Bender? OK, maybe this rule doesn't apply to everyone. But High On Fire has gotten a lot of attention, primarily because their frontman is Matt Pike, a former member of the legendary Stoner Metal outfit, Sleep. He's carried with him all of the early-'90s accouterments that made Sleep a standard for the lethargic Metalhead and added about 36 tons of heaviness on top of it. As a result, Blessed Black Wings achieves a woozy duality, hypnotizing listeners with dark slow tempo crunch and propelling them out of a catapult with rolling energy. Throughout the album the down-tuned guitar and bass try their best to swallow the thrashing drums into a black sea of droning sludge Rock. The album is heavy, loud, deep, hazy, destructive, occasionally scattered and often difficult to digest. You decide if that's a good or bad thing. (Jacob Richardson) Grade: B-