The debut album of Western Mass '80s Garage Rock titans the Malarians. A great album of solid garage band full tilt rock. What's even better is that the Malarians were not content to just re-create the seminal rock of the '60s garage era. They've layered on tops of it a heaping layer of "art". Nodding pop-cultural references, self-referential twists on the genre, and a cast of characters both in the band and in the songs themselves that bear listening to over and over again. One thing you can always count on is the manic energy and intellect of Mal Thursday, the Malarians's front man, working each song vocally like an over worked short block V8, chewing the vocal scenery and his harmonica like a guilt free hoagie, and peppering the songs with his trademark "Yeeeereeee-aaaaaay-yuh". In The Cool Room, was and continues to be one of the most shockingly diverse first ablums by a band you may have never heard of. Songs range from the epic camp of "Lone Star Surfer" complete with Morrison-esque vocals from the late Slater Awn, and catchy refrains "hang ten little doggies", to the full tilt epic sprawl of "Gilligan's Wake" with a sprawling cast of characters including a full compliment of Canadian politicians, celebrites, and various others. Other highlights include the ominous creeping bass that glues "Up To No Good" together to the trippy Dukes of Stratospheare like "One Time Only". In The Cool Room is one of those albums you can't stop listening to. I kept trying to get it out of my head, but I kept putting it back on and turning the volume up. Later albums showed the Malarians continuing to improve on their particular take on the garage sound. For Mal Thursday its been a lifelong quest. If you want an album that takes you back to the dawn of the re-dawn of the garage sound, In The Cool Room is a sure thing.