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Now that he's getting love as a godfather figure from both sides of the indie/mainstream divide (see No Age and Foo Fighters, for starters), Bob Mould is again playing like he has something to prove — or at least an iconography to maintain. So after the acoustic sidesteps, the half-assed "Return to Rock!" records, the WCW, the club DJing, and the memoir writing, Mould at last returns (for real!) to doing what he does best: making extremely loud melodic music with a power trio. (Verbow's Jason Narducy and Superchunk's Jon Wurster handle bass and drum duties, respectively.) Silver Age is the best album Mould has released since his days in Sugar. Tellingly, it sticks to Sugar's sonic formula, squeezing Mould's limited vocal range between walls of sibilant cymbals, crushing power chords, and rapid-fire snare fills. The 10 songs here come from a place of experience and maturity; talkin' 'bout been-there-done-that fame games ("Star Machine"), growing up and moving on ("Silver Age"), and embracing change ("Angels Rearrange"). As corny as some of that sounds, Silver Age presents each of these subjects on a barbed platter, balanced between the aesthetics of Mould's two aforementioned disciples. "Never too old to contain my rage," he sneers on the title track, reinforcing that age ain't nothing but a number.
BOB MOULD | Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | September 10 @ 7 pm | 18+ | $20 | 617.562.8800
