Former bass guitarist for Hole and Smashing Pumpkins Melissa Auf Der Maur has been lying low ever since the dissolution of the Pumpkins back in 2001. Which doesn't mean she's been a complete sloth though, in all actuality she's been quite busy. In 2002, she formed a Black Sabbath cover band called Hand of Doom, and it was the first time she had ever handled lead vocal duties. After Hand of Doom called it a day late that year, she went to work on her first solo album. Rather than signing with a label though, Melissa funded this debut album on her own so she could have complete control. Quite a gutsy move, but one that seems to have paid off. She hired Kyuss producer and Master of Reality main man Chris Goss to produce, and that in itself was probably the smartest decision she could make. Auf Der Maur has that stoner rock sound that Kyuss made so prominent down to a tee, and it's a sludge rockin' good time.

The guest list on Auf Der Maur is one that would make every mid 90's rock aficionado cream in his or hers shorts. There are the obvious ones like James Iha from the Pumpkins and Eric Erlandson from Hole, but then you've got Brandt Bjork from Fu Manchu, Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri from Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Lanegan from Queens and Screaming Trees, Paz Lenchantin formerly of A Perfect Circle and Zwan now with Papa M, and her sister Ana-Vale Lenchantin. There's also Kelli Scott from Failure, John Stanier formerly of Helmet now with Tomahawk, Jeordie White a.k.a. Twiggy Rameriez formerly with Marilyn Manson, now with A Perfect Circle, Jordon Zadorozny from Blinker the Star and last but not least the main contributor to Melissa's debut, Steve Durand, formerly of Auf Der Maur's first band Tinker.

All this would mean nothing though if Auf Der Maur couldn't sing a lick, but fortunately this babe can wail. Right off the bat on "Lightning is my Girl," Auf Der Maur shows that her voice can carry this hard rock symphony; sounding almost like Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon. "Followed the Waves" is an excellent hard rocker, but Auf Der Maur shows that on tracks like "Taste You" and "I'll Be Anything You Want" that her forte is singing on poppier rock tunes. But don't fear, if it's rock you want, it's rock your gonna get with this album. Auf Der Maur proves her worth to the rock world once and for all on this excellent debut.