From their early days in the nineties to today, British rock band Placebo [ tickets ] seems contemporary no matter what style of rock n roll is pounding the charts at the time. Their straightforward fifth album is called "Meds" and it's a little Emo, a little Goth, but mostly, it's a lot of rock.

Singer Brian Molko may not have much vocal range but he makes the most of his band's taut, dramatic songs. Molko is at his best when he carves his dark lyrics into melodic, memorable lines. On the roiling ballad "Follow the Cops Back Home," Molko's singing is knowing and sly, punctuated by unexpected melodic twists: "The call to arms was never true/I'm medicated, how are you?/Let's take a dive, swim right through/Sophisticated points of view," he sings, his voicing rising and quivering over Dimitri Tikovoi's spare production. The best stuff here is loud, aggressive and, indeed, melodic. The buoyant "Infra-Red" with its epic chorus and smart percussive tempo is a confident blast of guitars and distortion.

But the band doesn't do it all on their own this time; on "Meds" Placebo hooks up with a couple of impressive guests. They get help from Michael Stipe on the break-up track, "Broken Promise," lending the band an air of indie cred. For the album's opener, title track "Meds," the Kills' Alison Mosshart provides a guest turn, singing the song's chorus: "Baby/Did you forget to take your meds?"

"Meds" meets modern rock head-on, with powerful music that you can sink your grief into. And Molko's limited vocal range is only a problem when he ignores his best attribute: a keen sense of melody and drama—factors most of "Meds" has in spades.