The Nuclears - Seasides (Rum Bar/Spiderbite)

At first wash, Brooklyn’s Nuclears seem like entertaining lunkheads. “Siamese Connection,” the first track on their debut album Seasides, works up a good old-fashioned sleaze rock head of steam, with legs planted wide and sneering attitude up front. Midpoint “Bow To the Queen” follows suit, with even heavier results, and “Slash Run” medleys its way into a cover of Kiss’ “Strutter.” As it happens, though, that’s only one arrow in the quintet’s quiver. “Steer You Wrong” and “Small Talk” lighten up the hard rock and fit more in a rough-hewn power pop box, while “Flat & Nasty” goes glamtastic and “I Just Wanna Have Nothing to Do” adds in girl-group dynamics for an even poppier experience. “Mystery Slinger” and “Make the First Move” add bits of one style to the other – check out the muscular harmony guitar solo on the otherwise effervescent “Move” – and push the band toward a distinctive personality of its own. With well-crafted songs and a clear love of anything with a guitar in it, the Nuclears eschew lunkheadedness and stomp toward a bright future.