The Austin-based rocker’s fifth album is notable not only for Moore’s ability to balance searing blues guitar and melodic hard rock sensibility, but also for its downright soulfulness. “Room 229″ is a smoldering, almost Portishead-like track that finds Moore displaying genuine soul vocal chops. “Magdalena” is the kind of hard rock/soul marriage that Lenny Kravitz occasionally succeeds at, with Moore scraping the top of his vocal range with a sweet falsetto. And let’s not forget the instrument on which the onetime Joe Ely sideman stakes his reputation. Moore whips up a delightful, moody storm of solos on “Coming Around” that seems at once to recall the disparate talents of Joe Satriani and the late Eddy Shaver. This is an album that knows when to rock out and when to back off and plunge the listener into lush atmospherics. – Erik Hage