Six men. Fifteen minutes of fame. A vast multitude of different labels. One esoteric ’70s proto-punk reference. Count it down, baby, and you get Rocket From the Crypt, formerly the next big punk band, currently one of the last great ones. For the story of why the group left Reprise, see this month’s Skratch (then use the rest of that magazine to line a litter box). What’s important is that the boys are, as they say on the street, “in full effect.”

Most of the songs are drummed by Jon Wurster of Superchunk and will feel familiar to fans of 1996’s seminal Scream Dracula Scream – an aesthetic pinched from the Sonics, then filtered through both dissonance and bubble gum. But the new Rocket sound comes in when Mario Rubalcaba sits behind the kit. “Return of the Liar” features jerky, fragmented guitars ˆ la Circus Lupus, while the seamless tempo changes of “Dead Seeds” unearth a fresh, brainy side to the band. That’s not to say the amazing Rubalcaba can’t full-out pound. “Straight American Slave” is 190-proof punk-fucking-rawk, while the blazing “White Belt” is catchy like chlamydia. And don’t forget the engaging (and mildly homoerotic) gang choruses, which spice nearly every track and transform the closer into a lighter-waving epic.

Group Sounds is magnifique, essential for fans of the band, a great introduction for those who aren’t, and Rocket’s best work in years – but who’s counting?