"Life is crawling over me," sings Stacy Quinealty on THE BULL's second track, and the sentiment of being fed up with the world, angry, and confused permeates this album. Instead of an empty exercise in self-pity, however, Carbon 9 attempts to reach out to listeners suffering through the same muddle. Beyond that, it's hard rock with an industrial metal edge, and the songs are given a muscular push by mixer Frank Gryner, who's worked with Rob Zombie and Perfect Circle. Guitarist Darwin DeVitis has real instrumental talent, but his solos on tracks like "Lonely in Love" aren't wanky. In a too often cartoonish genre, THE BULL has credibility.