Tenacious D: Tenacious D

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * )

Once again, the "Warning: This Recording contains explicit language" sticker does not lie. The debut album by LA comedy duo Tenacious D contains much that's rude, very little that's funny. Even those who have warmed to the screen presence of Jack Black — the pair's better-known half — in High Fidelity and Shallow Hal may find that he quickly loses his obnoxious appeal in this 21-track ramble which mixes heavy metal parodies and stoned-logic conversations with partner Kyle Gass.

Perhaps it doesn't help that the rock period he's poking most fun at are the soft targets of 70s and 80s American hard rock, which gets the studio backing by Foo Fighter Dave Grohl among other luminaries. It certainly doesn't help that, when he's not singing, Black is a shouter, his volume rising in inverse proportion to the strength of the comedy.

However, diehard fans of dumb rock comedy might find something to smirk at on the likes of The Road (groupie-groping boogie-rock), Dio (their thankfully short tribute to Ronnie James Dio — "he has songs of wilderbeests and angels") or Explosivo (a satanic rock spoof disproving Devil-best-tunes theory).

Label: Epic