The Meat Puppets new release does not follow a desired precedent. The band has been around for almost 20 years, and its tenth album, “Golden Lies,” is distinctly different from its previous nine. While only guitarist/vocalist Curt Kirkwood remains from the old Puppets line-up, the band can’t help but sound different. With new members Kyle Ellison on guitar, Andrew Duplantis on bass and Shandon Sahm on drums, the band is hardly the Meat Puppets anymore. Kirkwood should have considered this, and thought of a new name for his band. The Meat Puppets produced its best material earlier in its career, prior to the release of “Monster” in 1989, which featured a different feel. After “Monster,” the band broke up due to poor reception from fans. The band reunited in 1991 and opened for Nirvana in 1993. Most likely, the only familiar material from the band’s history are the three songs Nirvana covered in its MTV Unplugged special: “Plateau,” “Lake of Fire” and “Oh, Me.” The Puppets did muster a bit of a comeback, receiving chart exposure in 1994 with its record “Too High to Die,” following its exposure with Nirvana. Its notoriety was short lived, when the album “No Joke,” released in 1995, amounted to be quite the opposite to fans and critics.Its new record continues to have the same feel as “Monster” and its subsequent releases. However, it does not come close to matching their quality and appeal. Going with a basic indie approach, the record is indicative of a band trying to mount a comeback by tinkering with their style and attempting to make it marketable. This is evident by the change in line-up and the continued use of a name that has some recognition value. The music itself isn’t horrible, it just lacks luster. “Armed and Dangerous” sounds a lot like Pearl Jam, but is a good song with strong instrumentation. “Hercules” has a palatable sound, but it is nothing to write home about. The latter part of “Fatboy/Fat/Requiem” features a tuba and an accordion that creates a strangely haunting sound. The pace of the record is somewhat of a disappointment, not deviating much from track to track. Kirkwood writes some good material and the music is again generally good, but not great.If Meat Puppet fans are hoping the band has regained its old sound, the answer is no. Sticking to mediocre indie sounds, the record fails to capture the old Meat Puppets magic. Kirkwood is attempting to resurrect his band, but falls short, leaving fans with little to no cause for celebration.