The boys in Darth Vato aren't kidding anymore.

That's not to say that their typical silly-shit quotient is absent from their stunning debut full-length, Havoc. Just check the cover art -- a Hokusai-inspired tidal wave about to obliterate a palm-tree-laden tropical paradise. Or the c.d.'s title, which sounds like the name of a band that Vato drummer and closet hair-metalhead Eric Dodson would like to play in.

Over the last year of frequent gigs, these Vatos have matured from a Sublime-inspired joke into a hypnotically grooving roots-reggae and ska outfit. Dodson and bassist Steve Seward have mastered the supple interplay that reggae riddim requires. Frontman Kerry Dean has dispensed with his battery of vocal effects and now sounds like he owns this music. No longer just a clever imitator, he's using the style to tell his own stories and paint his own pictures.

In places, Havoc has the feel of a late-period Bob Marley and the Wailers record. Pablo and the Hemphill 7 keyboardist Justin Pate's contributions lend the proceedings an air of roots authenticity. Voigt's Joshua Loewen and producer Jordan Richardson provide episodes of Al Anderson-esque guitar damage. (Between this disc, Voigt's Forever '66, and his own band Horses' Surviving the Tradeshow, Richardson has quite an impressive track record.) ÒMy Place,Ó ÒSmilin' Today,Ó and ÒEverytimeÓ evoke the Òplace where everything is easyÓ as Seward described in an interview last summer, while ÒSituation Overload,Ó the sinister-sounding ÒPolice Dub,Ó and ÒFTWÓ provide potent reminders that reggae was the original gangsta rap.

The disc's most, um, Sublime moment is the crowd singalong fave ÒAin't Got NoÓ -- both the c.d.'s likeliest hit and the Darth Vato tune most likely to get banned by the FCC. And dumbass humor is still in ample supply on the self-explanatory ÒAnother Ska SongÓ (dig Seward's Òbling-blingÓ interjections). Being the local scene's Òmost improved bowlersÓ doesn't mean you have to take yourself seriously, after all.