"Viking" sets corrosive guitars and fuzzed-out bass against an oddly appropriate horn riff. It sounds like a heavy-metal biker anthem spiked with Spanish flavor and a pulsing beat. "High Places" features explosive, intertwining guitar work worthy of Television. Unfortunately, This Time is marred by terrible lyrics, which is strange, given the great writing on the latest Latin Playboys album. The lyrics to "Viking" are so off-hand and conversational that they're swallowed up by the power of the guitars and the driving beat.

I don't want to harp on this too much, because ultimately This Time is a groove album, a hard-rocking and casually inventive good time. On "La Playa", Hidalgo croons in Spanish and English over a disorienting array of gamelan percussion, ambient keyboards and a lo-fi coil of electric guitar. The song is a mix of traditions, but hardly traditional. It's a remarkable accomplishment for a band comprised of that rarest breed of rock musicians who get more experimental and adventurous, as they grow older.