You know how there are those bands that were never truly appreciated in their heyday, but like a fine wine over time, their albums age to a point where they're ripe for consumption and rediscovery? Cracker (and Dave Lowery in general) is one of those bands (and guys.) Over the past few years, Lowery's first band, the quirky 80's troupe Camper Van Beethoven, have been rediscovered and newly appreciated by a fresh generation of bands like Modest Mouse and new found appreciation saw CVB opening for most of Modest Mouse's huge second leg world tour a few years back. Now that Lowery has re-energized the masses for their taste of Camper Van Beethoven, Lowery is set to bring his 90's band Cracker back for a second spotlight grabbing go round and Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey should be the album to do just that.

Let's be clear about one thing, Cracker has never gone away since their inception with their brilliant self-titled album in 1992 and their massive one hit wonder "Low" off their sophomore record Kerosene Hat in 1993. Slowly plugging away in bars and touring on behalf of moderately decent releases since, Cracker have just been always kind of there carving out a decent sized following of rabid fans that appreciate every new piece of work Lowery is able to crank out every three years or so. But Sunrise is not just like those other albums however. Sunrise is an album of incredibly focused and powerful lyrics and solid rock riffs to make any casual listener sit up and take notice. It also helps that Lowery has cashed in a lot of favors for Sunrise and many guests make grade A appearances here. John Doe of X has guest vocals on "Shine A Light" and Adam Duritz of Counting Crows and Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse guest on the shimmering "Darling One."

The best guest of the bunch however is Paterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers on the howlingly funny duet "Friends" that just about anyone who has skeletons in the closet can relate to. But there are some truly powerful moments here as well, such as the opener "Yalla Yalla" which is told from the points of view of soldiers serving in the Middle East and the closing title track where Lowery reaffirms in the very last lyric of the record "Dying is easy, it's living that's hard." Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey is easily Cracker's best album in the last 15 years and music lovers whov've neglected them thus far would be wise not to do so now.