As far as follow-up albums go, women rockers who come out of the gate growling often smooth out their rough edges faster than chambermaids at a Best Western.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs made a nasty little scream on its debut EP, then cut that with pop on its debut full length, Fever to Tell. Though not a great record, Fever demanded attention and displayed boatloads more potential for growth than the rest of the Big Apple boom of 2002. Nick Zinner's tweedle-dee stared down, say, The Strokes' tweedle-dumb amusicality, and Karen O's seal-on-fire yelps and saucy swoon stunk of upward motion.

So Show Your Bones should've been its grand opening. It's basically a grunge record with some jangle-pop around the edges, the kind PJ Harvey has been boring us with since To Bring You My Love. Songs come and go, and sometimes it sounds like a mixed tape with Karen's voice over In Utero tracks while others sound like a Pat Benatar album. "Phenomena" pilfers its hook from the LL Cool J song of the almost-same name to give you some idea of its creative bankruptcy.

Karen's bark has, for the time being, lost all its bite. It's not exactly bad, but this the members could do in their sleep,.

Thank the big man above that Show Your Bones isn't a dozen "Maps," I guess. Barring that, though, this is the safest, blandest move they could've made. Grade: C-

-- Reviewed by Paul Thompson