Tendril: Sat at the Wreck Room, 3208 W 7th St, FW. 817-348-8308.

Every now and then, a band/record/show comes along to remind some of us that we're definitely on the wrong side of the big generational divide (a realization that, for me, first took form around the time doctors and cops started looking like children). Thus, Tendril.

It's gotten real hard for us village elders to listen to music that's filled with only one emotion, especially if that emotion is anger. And anger the Tendril boys have in spades. But the surprising thing about their most recent c.d., this summer's Anaphase, Baby!, is that the musicians manage to express frustration/exasperation/irritation through pretty dynamic vocal harmonies. Most crews of metalheads that use backing vox tend to favor unison shouting, but on songs like "The Love is Dying," "Sky-Strike the Terror Dome," and "Galaxy High," the Tendril guys blend their voices in a manner that's actually conventionally melodic.

Beyond that, some of their lyrics scan like good prose (if not poetry). Take "The Invisibles": "'They're all fags,' said a guy with: 1.) a paisley shirt 2.) white hat 3.) slacks 4.) penny loafers (ironic also because he just got back from a night with the girl he hates)." The "theme" -- which occasionally veers from how to handle all that angst to how to get as spaced out as possible (a refuge of the stoned 'n' alienated since the early days of Jefferson Starship, née Airplane) -- generally gets lost in the sturm und drang of the music, which at times sounds like something concocted by the geezers in Rush or Helmet when they're off their meds. Not that it matters; you can't bang your head to the words.

The boys in Tendril will be playing the second night of the Spune Productions-sponsored "Good Show" Christmas showcase at the Wreck Room this weekend, along with along with '80s synth-pop fetishists [daryl] (promoting their new Uneven Surfaces e.p.), Record Hop, The Alexander, and the cut*off. While Tendril doesn't exactly fit the shoegazer-friendly profile of most bands Spune promotes, there's enough good stuff in their music to snag any type of music fan, even the Baby Boomers among us.